, ,

SUFIISM
BY
THE 1{EV. CANON SELL, D.D., ~!.H.A.S.
n;r.LOw OF Tn F. L:SIVf:1L.'UTY Ot' tlADHAS

At'THoa OF 'THE Jo'AITH OF ISLAM', 'THE n.ELIGIOUS ORIlEHS OF

ISL.\lI', I ISLAM: ITS RISE AIS'O PROGRJo:SB· •• THE HISTORICAL

DEVELOPMJo::-;T OF THE QUR'AN', 'THY. RF.CE~SIONS

OF Tin: Qt:R'Ax' AXD I THE C(;J.T 01'- • Al.i •

'l'HE CHRISTIAN LI'l'ERA'l'URE SOCIETY

Fan INDL\
LONDOK. 'IIAPRAS AND COLOMBO

1 ~)l 0
 CORRIGENDA
I'Rt:STEn AT THE

~. P. C. K. rnt:ss, VEl'EHY, :-'U,IlRAS

Page ;', Ii lIC~ In, LI.-I,lor A. II. t"cad A. u.
lUIO . (i, Ii 1l (' 1.- A. H • A. P.

22 .. :~O.- . ,)! . f"!.,)!

~l.-,ldd ~otc t.o lw!,)-re {Jele.
. (i'i 17.-FoT ~
,-ead ~
 SUFIISM
.
EVEN u.s eu.rly u.s the first century of the Bijm we
find Muslims, with mystical tendencies of thought,
and amongst them were women, whose names
are held in reverence to this day. One of the
earliest mystics was Rlibi'a. a1-' Adawiyya, who died
in the year A.I>. 752. One of her sn.yings, recorded
by the poet' Atta.r, is: 'The fruit of wisdom is to
turn one's face towards God.' Others who took
their part in the contemphLtive life were 'Ayesb:1,
,'laughter of Ju.'fn.r a~-~idiq (d. A.H. 7G2) and Fa-
limn. of Nu.ysabur (d. A.H. 837). 'l'he gren.test nn.:lles
r.mongst the men who left their mark on early
$li.fiisllJ, or, a" Muslims e:L1l it, Ta~n.wwuf. are those
of al-JumLid of Bn.ghdad and al-Biyn.zfrl of Bistam.'
They lived in the latter part of the ninth cen-
tury, [tIll] were the first to develop the element of
pantheism as a real part of the $tifi teaching.
The first greu.t poet, who lIlarle his art a means
of expressing religions. mystic and philosophie
1 The Ri=-,~.:\miyy;\ Order of Dar\Vishc~ was founded hy him.
~ilfi doctrines aro tRught in it. See SoIl. The Religious Ord"s of
Isla ll '. p. R7.
 l;3UFfISM
thought, was Abu Sa'[d ibn Abi'l-Khair 1 (d. A,H.
l04g). It is said that he gave' the presentations
and forms of the $ti.fi doctrine those fantastic and
gorgeous. hues which hencdorth reuJained typical
of thIs kInd of poetry.' His disciples WOre a
woollen garment, and it is supposed that from the
word $ti.f, or wool, they obtained the name of
$llfis. 'fhe phrase labasa as-sUfa-' he donned
wool '-is used of a person who 'e~ters upon a mon-
astIc or contemplative life.'
The $Ufis of the earliest days were neither philo-
sophers nor poets: They were not ardent propa-
gandIsts. They hved a quiet and retired life, and
were looked upon by their contemporaries as heretics
who had departed from the straight path of Islam,
One of the most famous disciples of aI-Junaid
was l:fusain ibn l\fan~ur, surnamed al-l:fallaj (wool-
carder). Al-lfallaj fell into disf<tvour, with the result
tha.t, after being very cruelly tortured he was put to
death in Baghdad, on iYlarch 13, A.I~. g28. SUfis
regard him with reverence as the first ~ti.fl ma;tyr;
.1 For R full aCCOUnt of this \.. ·riter and for some specimens
hiS ~octrYl sec Browne, .-l Literary History of PeTsia, \'01. ii,
pp.• GI-~J,
'2.' Prom the earliest time:.; woollen 1°a.imcl1t was regarded as
typical of that simplicity of life ;t-ncl avoidallce of ostentation and
luxury enjoined by the Prophet and his immediate :mccessors.
The t~rll1 ~uff wa!) therefore ill later times applied to those a!5cctic
aud ~IOU::'. d.e\'olecs whu, Iikc the carly Quakers in ElIgland, made
the simplIcity of their apparel a. silcllt protest against tho gro\''''ing
luxu.ry of the worldly.' Browne, A Literary Histur!J of Persia,
\'9J. I, p. 417.
SUFIISM 7
'but there are many differences of opinion as to his
t~'ue chf1racter. There f1re writers of good repute
who represent him as an ignorant, pushing IJ]'111.
They say th'Lt his acquaintance with the Qur'all was
sI.ght and his knowledge of 1\1: uslim th eulogy
slighter still. They accused him of political in-
trigues. He had at onc time heen a Da'i, ur mis-
sionary, of the Khaliff1 f1r-Rirja, the eighth hl1ll.1lJ of
'the Shi'ah sect, which would give some colour to
the accusation. He professed to wurk miracles and
g,Lthcred together a consid"rahle numher of follow-
ers. It is probable tIHtt he was in Sallie way
,connected with the Cf1rmathian conspiracy. The
government of Baghdarl, under the weak rule of
the .Khalifa al-Muqtadir, was in danger in those
tUlllultw)us days, anr1 could rim no risk. -'I'here
were thus, in the opinion of many, good political
reaSOllS for putting al-l:In.llaj ouL of the way.
'The ostensible reason, however, for his con,1clll-
nlLtion til death was a ch'Lrge of blasphemy. In
a state of ecstasy, he said, '( 'Lm the Truth',
of '1 am God' .
Shaikh Faridu'd-Dln 'AWir defended this saying
of al-l::fallllj, on the ground that if it was lawful
for the hurning bush I in the presence of Moses to
say '1 am thy 1Jo1'd', he who had 1.1ready merged
1 The reference is to the worus: 'and when he ca.me to it (the
bush), he was called to, II 0 )loscs, vcrily, [ ;ltH thy Lord: there-
fore pull of thy shoes, fol' thou a.r~ in the holy Yalley of .Jowa."-
Stiratu To Ii" (xx) 11-12.
s sln<'iIsM
his separate existence in that of God could do the
same. He also calls him 'a martyr in the way d
God'. AM Sa'id ibn Abi'l-Khair also speaks in the
highest terms of him, and in this respect is followed
by Hmf, F.lafil: and nnny other poets. Still mOle,
al-Ghazili, one of the greatest of 'Muslim th<.:ol(,-
gians, defended him and declared thn.t, though
imprudent, he was orthodox. 1t is very difficult
to get ,1t tbe ren.l facts of tbe case, and ,0
jndicious and sobcr a historian as ibnKhalli\':n.~
is content with saying: 'The history of ,tl-I:Ialla)
is long to relate: his fate is well known, and
God knoweth n.1l things.' So there wc. too,
leave it.
Sufiism in the earliest of its stages was ascetic.
Al~Fudayl, who rebuked the Khalifa IUnInn'r-
Rashid for his Inxurious life, was himself so solemn
a man that when' he passed away men so.id:
, \Vhen al-Fudayl died, sadness wn.s removed from
the world" When Baghdad was in the height of
iis glory n.nd the Khalifas and the members of
their Court livcd in pomp and splendour, the
Imam ibn Hanbal was renowned for the simplicity
of his life, 'tbe ascetic nature of which ga\'e him
great influence amongst the more seriOUS-ill inded
Muslims. Some Silfis went to an extreme antl
were rebuked for' their abuse of the doctrine of
• tawakkul', or dependence OD God. Their oppo-
nents used to tell this story. One drty a man went
to tbe Prophet and sn,id: • Sball I let my camel
f3lndISM
free :wd trust in God.' The answer came: 'Tic
up your camel and trust in God.'
Then en.me the ecstatic stage, when the mys-
tical oriental mind in the expressions used for
human love, beauty, and earthly wine found terms
to express the mystic relation of the soul to
God. 1 It was then th:1t the te;tchin orr about the
various ecstatic states or stages: indicating the
upward progress of the soul \\'<LS formuln.ted,
afterwards to be reproduced in rieh profusion by
the great f?Ufi poets' Both stages, th e n.scetic
and the ecst;ttic, are ~orubined in tl1(' D,\!'\\lsh
Orders, the present h,)\ue of $iIfi teaching.'
$llfiism Ilext passe,} Oil to the speculative ;tnd
theologic:tl stn.ge, in which it was influenced bv the
neo~platonic philosophy,> It W:1S then that $t'tffi,m
became deeply indebted to al-G hazali, who aftcr
passing through :1 periorl of scepticism and doubt,
sought for peace of mind in scholastic philosophy
1 Sec G'ldslum-i.Rdz--Quostions and Answers (xiii, xiv) for tlw
usc and interprcta.tion of ma.ny terms.
• !2!.>i,'!·Nun (d. A.r>. 850) introrluced thedodriue of the ecstatic
st,tc, (J'r' ,ud =\..\0-0). AI··lu,mid (d. A.!', 90'11 worked the
idea into a system, nnd :Ish·Shibli (d. A.n. (45) openly pr"acherl it
and so made it known.
:: For a good account of lhese poets, sec Browne, A Literary
Hi-dory 01 Per.lfia, \'01. ii., chap. ix.
• Seo Sell, The Religious Oraers of 1sl'i'" (S.P.C.K., ,ladr,s:
SimpkilJ, :;\farshall and Co., London) .
_.:: Sec Ma-cdollnld, Muslim Theolo')y, p HH: GlIlslu'IIvi-ltci::,
\Vhinfir.ld·~ Introduction, p. vii ; Dim'i_n.i·Slumzs_i_Trtbri?i, ~ichol­
Bon's rntroductioll, p. xxxi.
10 ~uFfISM
(blam) but found none. At length in the writings
of the ~Mis he found the rest he needed. His
faith returned to him. He at once gave up his
pursuit> iu Baghdad ~tnd left that city in the year
1087 a professcd f;)Ufi. Since the tirue when al-
Ash'ari llla<le his grc:tt r<~nunci~LtlOn of his former
:\:In'tazila teaching there bad been no such epoch
in Islam, until al-G hazaH fled from Baghdad. 'It
meant that the reign of mere scholasticism was over;
that another elemcnt was to work openly in the
future Church of Islam, the element of the mys-
tiC'll life in God, of the attflinment of truth by the
soul in direct vision '.\ Al-Ghazali was too good
a theologi"n not to see certain dfl.ngers in ~t'tfiisru,
which he tried to guard against. 'l'herc was :t
dallger lest the orthollox dogma of 'lllukhalafa',
by which is meant God's difference frolll the
world alld from all created things, should be
impaired; there \....as the tendency to decl:Lre that
the soul, of men now partook of the divine nature
and would finally be :tbsorbcd into it.' However,
it was by al-G hazili's great influence and learning
that ~Lifiism obtamed a finn and recognized posi-
tion in Ishim. Even orthodox Muslims had to
accept the increasing pra.ctice of saint-worship and
1 :"1a.cdO:1i1.ld, Jfw.. lim Theology, p. 2'2C,.
'J 'It is part or th~ irony of the hi:,tory of ~lu~lim theQlogy
that the vcry cmph'lsis Oil the tra.nscclldent....l unity should lca.d
thus to p31ll-hdsm.· ::'\lacdon;"ld, Muslim Theology, p. 2:·m, Sec
o.Iso Gairdncr, The Muslim iclea of God (C.L.S.) p. :.lo, ct ~6q.
11
to give credence to wop.derful stories of the miracles
of the AuliYli' (saints). After this brief his-
torical sketch, we may pass on to a 1I\0re minute
treatment of the system.
There are several theories flS to the ori"in of
$uriism which ha....e been classed thus: the e:oteric
Islam theory; the Aryan reaction t.heon·· t.he
N eJ-Platonist origin theory; the independent ~rigill
theory. 1 Whatever view we may take of its
origin it undoubtedly was [t reaction from the
burden of a dry monotheism, of a rigid lu.w and
a stiffened ritlllt!. 'Slifiism
. wa.s no exotic 0"rowth ,
but >;hoots up like a tender phLnt in the desert,
It is a child of the soil, called into being by the
deeper and tr'ler religious spirit which the dry
monotheism and stubborn 110gmas of the Qur':in
had stifled.' ' .
The orthodoxy of the faithful did not meet the
needs of the 1110re imaginative minds of some of
the eastern races, :tnd ~Miism, supplying this
want, found a home :ullongst them. Ag:Lin, the
great political movements :1I1d the tribal f:tctions
in. the early history of Islam 0"l1thered round
d lvergent religions dogmas, a fact plainly seen
in the very distinct theology of the Shi'ahs, the
1 ~or a full discussion of these various thcorit.:~, see Brownc,
A Lltercn'Y Ristol'!! v! Pe"sift, \01. i, pp. 418-21. For a statcment
on the ~co-Platoni.;;t origin theory, sec Nicholson, A Lileno'"
llistory ." the Arabs, Pl'. 3SR -a. .
"! i'icholson, in the IIlLrolluction to the Diwdlt-i-Shn11ls-i
Tflbrizi, p. xxix.
12 SUFIISM
followers and the partis~ns of the Khalifa 'Ali
~Ufiism l(>nt itself readily to the cause of the
•Aliyi tes, to whom the notion of the infusion of
divine lLttl'ibutes into 'Ali ltlld into the Imams, hIS
successors. was a most welcome idea. The alle-
gorical expln.nation of religious duties and princi-
ples, ceremonial and moral, sOllletillles went so far
as to substitute for these duties n.bsolnte devotion to
the Imam, ani! to the s:~crcd C:Luse of the Shi"Lhs.
This was carried to its greatest extent nnder the
mad Khalif:t l:likim and in the sect of the Isma'il-
in.ns, tbe Batinis, and others.' At the same tinll~,
the quietism ltnd the eclecticism of the $tiris is
not in accordance with the more rigid teaching
of Islam. Browne says: . :Eyen scholars-es-
pecially such as hA.ve never yisited the East-
often sp~ak of such sects n.s the Isma'ilians and the
Babis of to-day ItS though they were akin to the
$Mis, Whel'elLS a greltt hostility exists between
them, the n:t!ural antagonism between dogrrmtism
and ecledicism. The B,tbis in particuln.reqnn.1 their
Shi'ite foes in their h'ltred of the $tifis, whose point
of view is (inite incompatible with the exclusive
claims of n. positivl< n.nd dognmtic creed.'·
The pre'lchers of these new doctrines tl':lvell(,c1
far and wille ,LIlll "0 mixed with men of :Lil ~"rts
n.nd conilitions. In this wn.y idcn.s glen.lleil frolll
Zoroastrians. Hindlls, and Gnostics may h,we
1 See Sell. £$$0.:/.<> on 1... 1f;m. Pl'. 148-170.
2 Browne, A Ditern"!J lIist'J1'Y (If Persia, \'01. i. p. 42H.
$UFiIS.\l 13
€ntered into :?lifiism n.nd largely affected it. The
thm! century found the Zindiq and the i\fu'tazila
controverslCS at their height. It was an earnest
attempt to bring reason to bear on religions mat-
ters n.nd resulted. in a system of scholasticism.
But {rom. all .thls the Persian mind revolted.
.Hen.son n.nu logiC were no substitute tor l'evelJinl1
In the sense of the ben.utiful, or for Illeditatin~
on the love of God and the lInion of the
'· sou
I
WI th tl Ie d Ivme.
The hard ,Lnd fast system o{ Islam, with its
clear-cut dogmas and its idea of finality in doctrine
all~ law, \~ould seem the most unlikely pln.ee in
whl~.h to tind n. system such n.s $Miism; but the
~ur an itnd tbe traditions contain Its germs.
At one tlIne they represent Allah as hn.ving
cren.t:d the world once {or all, n.nd as now removed
to HI~ sen.t III the "1l'sb, or highest heaven, having
left HIS creatnres to work out theil' o\\'n salvation
or condemnation by their own free will, according
to the I~ghts given them by the prophets; at
all?th~~' t~me they represellt Him <1S the" Subtile
Bemg , ImllHLDent and ever working in His ere<1-
tures, the sum of all existence, the fulness of life
whereby all things move and exist, the olIlni~
present, not only prcrlestinn.ting, but originating 1111
~ctlons, dwelhng III and communing with each
mdlVldual soul.' \ The ~lJl'is gathered up ideas like
I Gu[s]z.m&.i.lUlz, \Vhinficld' .,: InLruduniol'., p . \.",'\'
I.
14
these [Lnn taught th[Lt this <.:loser comlllunion with
God, this looking behinn the veil, this <:ultivation
of the' inner eye',1 would lmn,ble them to see :tnd
understand milch which w:tS hidden from those,
who held that there was no rC[LI existence, except
that which was plain and evident to reason and
sight.
The Arabian philosophers 2 made known to their
readers the Neo-Platonic philosophy, and the $Ufis
adapted Qur·lLni<.; terms to the new ideas they thus
gained. . The world of phenomena and man,
everything clse in fact but Alhih. they identified
with Not-being. absolute nonentity, which like a.
mirror reflects Being, and by thus borrowing
partides 01 Being. "ises to the rank of Contingent
Being, a kinn of Being which partakes both of
existence ann non-existence. This Not-being IS a.
sort of r.Jani"h,,::tn Ahriman, which solves all
practical difticulties a.ttaching to their speculative
system. Accorning to their theory the Infmite
indlldes :Llt Being. evil as well ltS goon; but as
this is not consistent with the goodness of the
1 ~ ...sIr' ~ .s s-"!~ ~4 J~- The heart hath gotten an
eye. alway!; de~irillg Thee. Dill;all-i-S1Jallls-i-Tabdzi.
1 1 The great pbilof:ophcr. :\vicclllln (ibn Sinli) once met the grea.t
mystic Abu Sa-lid ibn Abi'l·Khair. The Conner said, " \Vhat I know
be see::;
I, and the latter B,dd, "\Vhat J see he knows." Pure i~
lifo and earnest in purpose, but. Fitarting from (lifTerent paint!;. hath
hadatt;"\in~d the ::.:\lnc goal, the one l~cl by reason the other hy
love.' Browne, neligiou$ S!lsfems 01 the Wen'ld, p. 311.
15
Allah of the Ql1!"in, evil is said to proceed from
Not-being.' 1
As in lllan thel"e IS some ,park of real Bein rt
he would seem tf) be ahove all la\\', but thi~
difficulty is got over by saying that he is now in
t~e .state of Contingent Being, and so needs the
dIscIplIne and restriction of law. The llat ural
outcome, however, of all this was, in some cases,
a. spirit of indifference to the le,tdin<T principles
?f ~sl:im, which when riot openly att:cked were
IDdlrectly assailed, for all revelations were believed
to be but rays of one eternal light. This was
also often aceom panieo by a low moral life.
Still, the great majority of $Ufis, those who had
not attained to the higher grades of the IIIvstic
life, wer.e attache!1 to religion. though with a
dev?ut ntual pmetice they united theil' allegorical
n.otlOns. They thus adapted to their Own peculiar
vIews the (~lIr',inic teaching of the creation of
1 ~n~rodUdioll to the (Julshan-i_lln::, p, vii. Some of the earl
Chrl~tla~ ntysties held that' evil has no suh~tallce '. 'There i~
n~t~lDg,. ~ays Grcgory of N)'~sa, which fa.lls out!'ide of the
I
DIvlue .:r-::u.turc, exc.ept lI~ora.I, cvil &lo11c_ AmI thiF\, we may S,\y
po.radoll~a~I)'" h~s It~ b(;1I1g In not-bcing. For the gene.~i''';, of
moral. enl 15 :C:;lm~ly the privation of being. That whic.;h, properly
speakmg, CXlst~ IS the natun: of the good.' (Christian Mystici'\tn
?y W. R. Jn~c, p.25). So also in the Gll/shan·i.R'iz. we read
BClng IS purcly good ill wlwtcver it hll; if it (;olttains evil it
proceeds from other' .........
.
<." T'
_(1 """_ . . . . . -'_A ..... l> .s L ,; •
-" r u--::. . ~, ....T'"}
~;-el') (:)\ ...s,)" line 178. So also Jalalu'd-Din Rilllll:-
There is, then, no a.bsolute e\'il in the universe.
Evil is but rela.tivo.
16
man, his fall, and banishment from paradise.
In their opinion the union of the soul and the
body, and their exile to this lower world were
the necessary consequences of an eternal decree,
the reason of which WitS known only to God.
According to the ~Ufis, souls . existed before
bodies, in which they arc now iruprisoned and in·
which condition, being separated from the joy
they had in a pre-existent state, they look for-
ward to the death of the body for thcir full
manifestation, and the full fruition of all their
aspirations. The ~tifis are fertile in reasons for
eluding the authority of the text of the Qur'an,
as regards the resUlT'l~tion of the body, a dogma
which conflicts with their view of the reLurn of
thp soul to God. When ,L ~lifi says that God
and he arc one, he does not Illean that the
divine enters into the human by a kind of infusion
(huliil),' nor does he say that two substances
combine to make one (ittiJ.llidl, but that God and
the soul ,1l'e one in the sense that all that exist~
is God and nothing exists apart from Him.
L We. Thou, lIe- are all one
For in Unity is no dnality.'
I ..:.--l~ ~.I ,,\"':;1, J;" Un/shan-i-U'Lz, !ine. 454_
17
They argue that if it was lawful for the burn-
l
ing bush to call itself God in the presence of
Moses, so man may surely do the same.
Come into the valley of peace, for at once
The bush will say to thee, 'Veril:>, I am God.'
The sa,ying '1 am God' was lawful for the bush
Why should it he unlawful for 0. good man to say ~o.,
. The reason given for the creation of the world
IS .that Goel desired to IlltLnifest the mode of Hi;;
eXls~c~ce in Himself, in accordance with the
t:a dmon . 'I was a hidden trcasurc and I de-
sHcd to be known, so I created the creation in
order that I might be known.' 3 This self-exist_
ence. He manifests by the mode of His existence
outSide
.
of
.
Hunself, just as the ima"e 0
of the s un
IS seen In W:Lter. 'rhus in the Gulshan-i-Rdz we
read:-
Not-being is the IIllrror of absolute Being,
The shmm~ of the Truth is reflected in it
~ot-beinhg is the mirror, the world the reflection, and man
s as t e eye reflected of the hidden person.'
So. long as this phenomenal illusive existence
rema,lOs, :Lbsolute Being is hid, and the answer
thin~,
to '0 Lord, show thyself to me, that I may
1 Ante, p. 3.

, p45 ~ ..... \.,J """'"', )" IS * ~ ~ ,-,,-,-I ,I , 'i , \-. , 0'" • AllI_. III
,JI """"-r
-( .,.;:,;."
..~.
~ )
* ~\!\; IS \.:...~+.! I I..SJ,)'J
\ -,),J
(;ulsha1t-i.Rttz, line 4·1~'. ~ d,,;;1 ',) "p> 1ft' * ~-)" J' AllI III "",,\, I
~ufi$ hold strongly the doctrine of Tatl~fd, or the diyinc 8 ....1'1~ ~l\ ~-=-.; ....1'1 ",I """".~\; ~'-' y.::, ~~
Unity, but wheren" the formula' there i" HO god but Goel' • 0"- I..f:-ll> ~ '-"-'- \~ ,:f * ~ ~ ~.....;, ,. ~~
mca~s to au ortborlox ':\lllslim tha.t there is 110 second god; to y., . , < .
a $u[i it means that there is nothing hut God,. '" .,V''''- ..s,;"v-- ~ 1": * (:)\...;\ , ~ ~lo ..... fi ".,
GlIZsha".i-I1d", lilles 134, 140. ,.
2
18 SUFIISNI
look upon thee' is, 'Thou shalt not see me.' I
Thus this' Not-being is the evidence of Being."
God sees in Himself Being and Not-being; in
the universe he sees Himself reflected as in a,
mirror. 'The 1'\ot-being is the mirror which re-
flects the Being.' 3 This Not-being is, according
to Tholllck, Dot mn,tter clothed in form, nor mat-
ter unformed and inert, nor the place where
IlHlttel' C:Lme into existence, the 'TrA.')pwp.a of the
Gnostics, but is plll'e :Lnd simple negation of
Being. God alone is all, ontside of Him is non-
e"istence, an illusion, just as one seems to see
So circle when a light is twirled round.
The wholc world is "n illlllgin"ry thing,
Like fL point whirled ronnd in a circle + Or beauteous image, e-l' (leep lllystery
'To the llldaphysic:11 cOI~ception of God as
Pme Being, ;Llld the ethical conception of God
:1S the Eternally Holy, the :?\\fi adds another
conception, which may be regarded as the key-
note of :111 mysticism. To him, above all else,
G"a is tlw Eternally Bealltiful-Hnrin-i-l:Taqiqi-
the True Beloved. Before time was He e"isted
in His infinite purity, unrevealea and unmani-
1 ,.if'; ~J j\! ,,,\~i' ~\ ~;} ~~ Sllrntu'l.:\'I',if (vii) t:VJ.
"-'~ Q ~~-
'2 ~~_~ (,;....-.r f ~: ~\\ l.~ ~ (;1/L~h{f.lt.i-T.'(;::. lilH~ ',.!'i3.
3 J.-b Jl>. ;-,"1 ..... '-~ ,;J " J'\o-. I; ~ ~
(iub1lif1t-j·Hti:, line
• ..;.-!}-,;,J ;-,"\S''';'.id, ",\".. ,', ~}.-"'I;",I ~ JT'-
(iul:;llan-i-JUn, line 'iOU.
$UFIIS1\1 HJ
fest. Why was this state changed'? Why
was the troubled phantasm of the contingent
world evoked fro III the silent depths of the
non-existent.' 1 ?lh. Browne shows how Jami
in the Ylisnf It Xulc!Jkha, gives the answer.
I quote a few of the verses" which he has trans-
lated from this Persin,n poem.
But Demit,)' enllnot brook
Conccu.llllcnt and t.,hc Ycil, nOr p:\ticnt rest
Un",ccn :1.11<1 \lIltull1lircd: 'twill bur::;t :\11 bonds,
.\nd from lOs prison·casement, to the world
Heve"l Itself. See where thc ,ulip grows
1n llplan<.1 11lcaclows, how in uH.1m,)' spring
It decks ioself; find how "midst its thorns
The wild rose rends its garlllcnt~ and rcyci.\1..,
lls loveliness. ThOll, too, when somc rare thought
Flashes Ilcross thy soul. canst not endure
To let it pass, but hold'st it., th.t perch.nce
In speech Or writing thou may'st send it forth
'fa charm the wol'i,l.
The influence of the cli\'ine upon the hUIll:m,
which brings rLbout union, is called faiq, or an
emanation, an overflowing. 'l'his is caused either
by nida, or calling; by jadhb, or attraetion.
These emanations How down from God each
moment, calling the soul and attracting it to
Himself. Tt is by this constant efflux of being
that all things consist: l,he robe or Deing is
(;)f'; ~.l<'
1~;5.
1 Browlle, A YClH' (lJIIlJ)lgst the p(,..~imls. p. 125.
<;>"'" 2 Ihid.. pp. 1'lG-7 for a IHlmUCr of other \"crsc~ in the :-:\:n.:
strain.
20 21

--ast over the nakedness of Not-being and thus by intelligence, which again is the only me[11)S by
'. 1' !
'every moment a new heaven and a new eart 1 which man can reach his true ideal and fjnal
are l;roduced. ~lifis base this idea on the. v~rse aim, the perfcct knowledgc of Goll. But lllan
'and breathed of my spirit into him;' U mon, spmng from that intelligence which originated
then, means the receiving these elllan[1tions into the universe and so to it he mnst return. This
oneself, the being dmwn more and more by the is the ''lans-i-nuz!'''', or thc arc of oescent, :Lnd
ardour of the desire for them, by ab[1l\donll1g the 'laus-i-'urtij, or the 3,rc of ascent which embrace
all else, :tnd by giving up existence even in the whole of the life of a ~tifi. Man is the highest
the transport of joy which results. 'fhe. idea development of the material world, because it is
of jrrnhb, or [lttraction, is given by Shams-l-Ta- possible for him to rise just as hc has ocscended.
brizi in this verse:- The soul is materi[11 in its origin, but has powers
The 1llOtion of c"cry atom is towards its origin, of spiritual developmcnt and so can ascend back
A man comes to be the thing all whieh he is benL, again to God and to the most perfect existence.!
The soul and Lhe hearL by the aLtraetion of wish and The truly spiritual man secks by entering into
desire 3 some religious Order and by placing himself under
Assume Lhe (JualiLies of the Belo,·ed.
a Plr,7 or spiritnal director, to tmveJ on this
\Ve have seen that the words, 'I am a hidde~
upw3,rd road and at bst [1ttain to union with the
treasure and would fain be known', lie at the baSIS
divine.
of the Sufi ,vstelll, and that in creation God came
forth from' intern[11 to external lllanifest[1tion.· in s~C]uenec of timc, but in scquellce of causa/ie'/.; just a.s thc
It thus becomes a manifestalion of Him produced light given oti by a. luminous body is subsequent to the lumino£ity
of tha.t body ill t.:all.~ation: but !lot sU!Jscc1l1cnt to it in time.
This amounts to saying that the Univcrse is co-eterll".} with
1 Gulshan.·i-Hf1z, line 645.
(, c.. ... (, L .. c.. ~~ ~ ., God, hut not co·equa.l, hecause it, is merely an emanation
~ --.;;-~) (,;.,...... ~ ~~, Suratu'l-J:£lJr (xy) ~W. dependent on Him, while He hAS no need of it'
~ - . ~ ...
8 ~:
r"" <=)\ __......$ v"
\.-. ~.,
}' """ ,J> ':' ..:---, '""'~~ J-04 ~)'; I" ..;:-,~ 1 For a. modern Per!;ia.n vicw of the descent a.nd a.scent, Sp'C a.
good a.ccount of thc tea.ching of J:Iciji ~IulJn. HacH in A yem'
~.~. ",\;\,. • ,,.J~ ~".,pi> , j.-- A14} J~ , "'~ (lJlWlJgst the P~rsiaJl$, pr. j.'n· ·.W.
,.... ; J DiF;ji1t.i-Shnllls.t-1Iabn~1. :2$uffs aLLach great importance to thi..:, ollicl~: .JaJ:\.l11'd·nin
4 Thi,: is well put hy 'Browne ill .1 year' alllVllg:il the j'ersia'ts, Rllllli, the: JlI0S~ eminclit ~ufi poct wholll Pcrsia, ha~ produced,
p. 137~ thu:,: 'The whole, t;ni\'crfic, ~hc~1 is to be regar(~~d a.i;. says:-
the unfolding, manife::ltlltlon. or proJectlOll of G.od . . It b .lue Come under the shadow of the ma.n of rcason (Pir).
mirro! wherein Hc sces Himsolf: the arClla. wh('rCUl HIS ~':HIOU!o Thou ea.nst not tind it in thc road of the tradit-ionists.
attributes display their nature. It is subsequent to Hml not Tha.t mall enjoys c1o.'ic proximity to Allah.
 sUFirSM
13ut before \ye describe the '-!,flriqat, or mystic
path, therc are a few other points to be noticed,
as forming essentia.l parts of f?Mi theories, All
phenomenal illl1sions mllst be bid aside hefore
therc call he flny hope of reali7.ing the Absolute
Being. The whole world must he looked upon
as !Sot-being, even though the process may he
accompanied with pain and sorrow.
Shed tears allel lil.;;c R luycr in.,\' the dust,
So long [tS wc nrc in thc dust. wc "ee not the face of thc Belayed.!
One day, when expounding his \ie\\'s, Jrtlaln'd-
Din said: 'Thou seest nought, saye that thou seest
God therein.' A dflndsh eflme forward rJ,nd said
that the use of the term 'therein' indicated a
receptacle, rind thrJ,t it might be argned thrJ,t God
\yould thus be comprehended. \yhereas He is
incomprehensible. To this objection JnHlu'tl-Dln
l'f,plied thus: "fhe l1l\iverse of God's qualities is
the recepti1Cle of the universe of God's essence;
but these two nni\'erses rire really one. 'fhe first
of them is not He, the seeond of them is not
other than He. 'fhese, appn.rently two things,
Turn not away from obedience :0 him il~ :lolly wi~c.
HaYing (;hO:-:CH thi:, Direclor be 6ubmissiYe to hill1.
His hand is none other than tbe gra~p of Allah.
~\j ~') )\ 'r
... J,;~; ~.:~S :::.,J:i~ c:/ L~ )'J '\ )J,j\
bll:",""" ,\ "'-"011;\ ~. ; - ':' ~l\ "--,- , ~r- """fi' v-!
...:;,;._~ .ill, t~~, r- ,\ ..:;.~-..> :.:: r ~ rv\k)~, ~! (,;)~
111at...!pznri. Book i. Talc x.
1 .J! l:,"':;"\ Iv ~~~ c..; ~\;. u;; o.~ ~ 0L'.:...4'r}fJ\.::..;::.,.~,~'}··:4
Diu)lin-i.S!t01/fs·j.'!"n.o,·i,i, Ode xli".
23
arc in fact one and the same. How, then, is n.
contradiction
. in terms illlplied '). God com pl'lses
.
the .extel'l?r a~d the interior. If we cannot say.
He IS the mtel'lor, He will not include the interior'
but. He .comprises. all and in Him all things ha\'~
their ~emg. H~ IS then the receptacle also, and
cOlllpr~ses all e~lst,ences. itS the Qur':tn says, "He
compnses all thmgs".' It is stated that the darwish
",:a~ silenced and became an obedient disciple,
'I hiS IS one of many such discussions, and ac-
cording to i:'tifi au thorities all gainsayers were
convlDeed by such obscure and almost unintelligible
language.
All created beings, then, being included in the
category of Xot-being, the perfect man strives to
r!se to the state of Contingent Being, where for a
tl!ne laws itnd creeds are needed for his guidance;
but he docs not remain there, He seeks to ascend
to real Bl,ing and so to be free from all outward
restraint,s, to be in no relation at nJI to right and
wrong,
To the IlJ(Ul of God w}ulL j!-i wrong o.lld what is right,
The 1lHl.1l of Gou has ridden awa.y (rotll Not-being. 1
Sense and reason cannot tmnscend phenomena,
so they must be ignored in favour of the 'inner
light'. This faculty is called' taur '. 'In addition
to reason mn.n has a certain faculty by which be
I 1""" } ) , - ~ ,""- "1'" -,..',.. ,
\b. ""'; '; ,"""- ,,;'"
Diwtm-i-Shams-i-TabJ'izi, Ode "iii.

24 ~uFiIsM
can understand hidden mysteries.' 1 It is called by
Shams-i-Tabrizi the ' eye of the heart', which is
constant in its desire for God and by JailHu'd-Dln
the 'inward sense'" This idea is not peculiar to
$Mls. It was held by other mystics. It is what
Hugo of St. Victor calls 'the eye of the soul'
a separate faculty by means of which there is
immediate intuition of deity. He says: ''J'his eye
beholds what the eye of sense and the eye of
reason cannot see, what is both within us and
above us-God. Thus do the pure in heart see
God. In such moments the soul is transported
beyond sense and reason, to a state similar to that
enjoyed by angelic natures.' 3 He further describes
it as 'an eye that beholds at once the past, the
present, and the future, which penetrates what
is hidden, investigates what is irupalpabie, which
needs no foreign light wherewith to see, but gazes
by a light of its own, peculiar to itself."
This faculty of ~aur is to be used to gain the
knowledge of God, apart from whom there is no
real existence. Before explaining further the use
of this faculty, it is, however, necessary for us to
give some idea of the ~ufi cosmogony.
I C:l ~ 'r-' C:l'.lo/ "-- \..:..-!oj .s * C:l \-;, ...} ...
Gu[sna,1J.-i·Udz, line 481.
<,.$;t- Jk ~'i
s' For what is inspiration (,"",",) but the speaking of the inward
Bense', ,=,1.0,; V""" jl ~ ..." ~ '""'", Ma0natJi, Book i, Tale vi.
3 Vaughan, Hours with the Mystits, vol. i, p. 158.
4 Ibid. p. 170.
,
$UFIISM 25
$Ufls divide the works of God into two kinds-
the perceived world and the c~nceived world;
The former is the material visible world, familiar
to us all; the latter is the invisible, spiritual
world, and also the world of corumand, so calIed
from the words of the Qur'an used i~ creation,
l:/IC-.; J'=> Kun fa kdn-' Be, and it was.'
The first thing which issued forth was the
Primal Element, called by some the primary
intellect. Thus in the Akhl9.q-i-J alll.li we read
that 'the first principle which at the mandate,
"Be and it was ", issued by divine power from
the chaotic ocean of inexistence was a simple and
luminous essence, termed the Primary Intellect,
and also by the great teachers of mysticism and
investigation, the Mul,lammadan Spirit.' It is
said that the verse, 'and the business of the last
hour will be but as the twinkling ()f an eye, or
even less' [Suratu'n-Nal,ll'(xvi) 79J, refers to this
creation of the Primal Element-the Jauhar-i-
awwal. It has many other names, such as the
Pen, the Spirit of Mul,lammad, the Constructive
Spirit, the Universal Reason ('aql-i-kull). It is
,the perfection of wisdom, is ever near to God,
and is ever seeking Him. There is nothing except
the Primal Element which can directly approach
Him, or receive bounty direct from Him. It is
through the Primal Element that God's COID-
'IDands issue forth. Thus, as the Pen, it writes
the commands of God. 'When the Qat of His

26 ~uFfISM
P?wer breathed on the Pen, it cast thousands of
plCturp.s .on the· page of Not-being.' I
In this way also intelligences, souls, elements,
the heavens, a.nd the stars came forth. Then
from these simple natures started forth the animal
vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. In proof of
this i?Ufis refer to the verse, 'Nun, by the Pen
and what they write.' ~ They say that 'Nun'
re~resents the world of power, the Pen the
Pnmal Element, and that 'what they write'
refers to the simple natures. They write on for
ever, for 'should the sea bp-come ink, to write
the words of my Lord, the sea would surely fail
ere the words of my Lord would faiL' 3 Thus the
univers~ is ever ehbil:Jg, sustained every moment
by, as It. w~re, pulsations of the pervading spirit;
so that It IS described as bein a every moment
annihila ted and fresh-created' 0
,.~ c,J r J:-iU (;)')~ ..
V'")-u .... Ii ~
* ...)
1 ...)
• I
27
The final end and aim of all is man, who by a
process of evolution is at last arrived at.
I died I"
inanim"te ,natter and arose a plant.
I died as a plant and rose again "s an animal.
I died as an ..nimal and arose !\ man,
Why then should I fear to become less by dying?
I shall die once again 90S a man
To rise an anl;el perfect ftom head to foot.
Again when I suffer dissolutinn as an angel
I shan become what passes the conception of man!
Let me, then, become non.existent, for non-existence
Sings to roe in loudest tones: 'To Him we shall return.' 1
'l'hus the final end of all creation was man.
There is no other final caUse beyond Ulan.
It is disclosed in man's own self. 2
That which was made last, cnnsider to be first,
3
The last which waS made was the soul of Ado.m.
1 I""j r- (;),~ ""'r- W j , * ,..>..A. ~\l , ,....;. <.S..>~ ;'
,..>.. ,-! ,....; . ) ..f ,.../ ~ ~ *,..>..A. ,....' , d',..,.. ;\
I""/-
]I, , J~ ~"l\.. ;\ ,.), r Ii * r ;\ ,.~ ~... !l-
,.~ (;)\ ...;\; ,...., ).>J' 6.0/' *,.,...... (;)~} cl1.;\ A'" )~
~
r ,...

• Suratu l-Qalam (IXVlll) I.

... Gulshan-i-Rdz, line 4.
s Suratu·l-Kahf (xviii) 109.
• These variOUS powers seem to have something in common with
. .
(;)~') ~,. ULS ,.~f * (;)~;I (;)~ ,.~ ,....f ~ ~
MatJ~natli Book iii, Ta.lc xvii. The English version is from
Whinfleld's'Mathrnwi, P 159. Sec also a similar pal'Sllge in Book
the JEans of ~he Gnostics. The idea was that in the primal iv,Tale ix. and in the O"Zshan";.lldz, lines 317-39. In the
source ~f all eXistence. the fulu6SS of lire is still undeveloped and lAtter passage man's jouruey b described (rom the lo\\'est point,
that thIs dcvelopment
. . took place bJv means of the r''-0
L n s t rna s cu- through the vegetive, animal and human grades, up to the highest
Ii nc and fem.lmnc, ,by whose reciprocal action the chain of vital point of obliteration of an consciousness and perception of the
development IS car.ne,d 011. The hi~t essence of God no being external phenomenal world and immersion in ..be sea of divine
can comprehend; It IS the a.1>~olt1to aryvwCTTov; it can only glory. •
he known so far as He has revealed Himself in the de,·elopment • J"'u, J-i.,-. d.i.l ......f .. ,..... )... JIJ, ~line)"",2f>3. a.l
* ,-.' Ou!sha,,-i.lIdz,
of His powerll. (OUV~lJ.'€L') or JEans. These JEans are so many
form9 of ma.ntf08tatlOD, phasos. na.mes of Him who in His hidden
~ein~ is incomprehensible, ineffable aud who transcends all con-
3 ,....' ~ ,~
•
.....-:.S,-.,).. *. (:.'ol ~ ~ i"~ -'I' 6.0/' J'"
Ibid. line 261.
ceptIOns. See Neander, Church History, vol. ii, pp. 48, 73.

.'
28 $UFIISM
So also Browning, who says:-
Thus He dwells in all,
From life's minute beginnings, up at last
To man-the consummation of this scheme
Of being, the completion of this sphere of life.
Man is complete when he has gained intel-
ligence, but intelligence was the Primal Element;
so it is the beginning and the end, the first and
the last, and thus the mystic circle is complete.
If man would be perfect he must rise up to the
Primal Element and fulfil the words: 'From
Him was the origin and to Him is the return.'
.It is this which is the aim and object of the
traveller's journey. Thus Jalalu'd-Dln says:-
From realms of formlessness, existence doth take form,
And fades again therein. 'To Him we must return.' I
This is called by a great philosopher, the 'pro-
cession of His essence unto His essence."
$li.ffs claim for man the privilege of displaying
the divine attributes. This is a sacred deposit
committed to him. 'Verily we proposed to the
Heavens and to the Ea,rth and to the mountains to
receive this Faith, but they refused the burden and
they feared to receive it. Man undertook to bear
it.' 3 Evil IDen as well as good men perform this
1 ",~I) A.,)I Ii\!:> ",., )4 * 1,;),; ...., d)Y' ...sl ;\=)Y'
Ma0'1Ul.vi, Book It Tale v.
8 ~';..}s: .\.;.1 ~ A10ldq-i-Jaldli, (Persian edition A. H.
.1288), p. 259. (Thompson'. English edition, 1S39, p. 364.)
~. Stiratu'I-AJ:>zab (xxxiil), 72.
$UFIISM 29
function. 'The evil.hearted and the fools are the
opposite of light, yet they are the place of true
manifestation.' 1
•
Just as the universe is the mirror of God, so
.the heart of man is the mirror of the universe.
The $tifl who would know God or know the truth
must look into his own heart. In order to avoid
sin and error and to gain holiness and wisdom,
he must turn his eye inward, for
All the earth I wandered over, seeking still the' beacon
bright,
Never tarried in the day time, never sought repose at
night,
Till I heard a reverend preacher aU the mystery declare,
Then I looked within my own bosom, and 'twas shining
brig htly there.
We have already stat,ed that the function of the
Primal Element was to receive from God and' to
convey what was so received to the world. Thus it
includes both the saintly and the prophetic offices.
Some hold that each of these functions of the
Primal Element needs an exponent, that ~fuQam­
mad is. the prophetic exponent and that al-Mahdi,
the last of the Imams, will be the saintly one.
Others sn.y that the Primal Element and
Muhammad are identical,' and that, therefore,
1 .>J)~ (;)'0" r>-- ~ ,* .>J )t ~ ,j~ , -..s"YJ>
Gul.h"n-i-Rdz. line 264.
i This is to explain tho tradition, I He who has seen me has
soon God ',.which means that Mul].ammad is the Primal Element,
namoly, that which receives from God and then interprets Him
~man.
30 $UFiISM
both offices are vested in him. This idea throws
light on expressions which seem to consider pro-
phets and Imams as almost divine. A disciple
of the great mystic ieader Bayaz{d of Distam was
once asked whether God or his Master was the
greater. He replied: 'I only know my teacher,
I know no other than him, and he is' greater than
.all beside.' To a similar question another disciple
replied: 'There is no difference between the two.
As God does not walk in this world of sensible
objects, the prophets are the substitutes of God.
If thou supposest that these substitutes and their
principal are two different things, thou art wrong.'
According to the traditions, • I was a prophet
while Adam was yet between earth and clay,' and
'There is no prophet after rue,' $Ufis hold that
MUQammad was a prophet even before the creation
and that he still holds office. 'l'his identification
of Mu!;J.ammad with the Primal Element explains
the names sometimes given to him, such as Uni-
versal Reason, the Great Spirit, the Truth of
Humanity, the Possessor of the ray of light-the
Nur-i-MuQamllladi-from God's own splendour.
As man, then, sprang originally from the Primal
Element, the $ufi seeks to return to it. On the
one side of the circle is the qaus-i-nazul or arc
of. descent, which' includes the whole process of de-
velopment until man becomes possessed of reason-
able powers;' on the other side is the qaus-i-'uruj
or arc 'of ascent, which includes each stage from
$UFiISM 31
the first dawn of the reasoning powers of mau
until he is finally absorhed in the Primal Element.
This is the origin and the return of man. The
ascent is called the 'rariqat, or road, in passing
from stage to stage of which the traveller gains
an increasing knowledge of the mystical dogmas
of $Uflism. Before setting out upon the journey
he must be possessed of the spirit of humanity
and acquire capacity. These are referred to,
according to :;lUfi,>, in the verse, 'and when I
shall have fashioned him and breathed my spirit
into him.' 1
The words, • when I shall have fashioned him' ,
refer to the capacity bestowed for purifying one's
self from all qualities and dispositions. The words,
.' breathed my spirit into him', refer to the gift!
of the spirit of humanity. These gifts may be
given in middle or in old age. If the man who
desires to gain truth is in real earnest and striving
to control his desires, he is called a ',falib, a seeker.
He seeks to rise from the germ which contains the
Primal Element, a lowly position, to the divine
light, a high and lofty one. This is said to be
referred to in the verse: • Of goodliest fabric we
have created man, then brought him down to the
lowest of the low; save who believe, and do the
things that are right, for theirs shall be a reward
that faileth not.' 2 If the ',falib feels drawn onward
1 Suratu'l-l;fijr (xv) 29. 2 Suratu'l·Tfn (xcv) 4-6.
32 $lWIISM
he is majdhub, or attracted and becomes a Murld,
or disciple, and attaches himself to some Pir, or
spiritual director. He must now submit without
a murmur to all that may await him and yield
implicit obedience.! In the words of f.£a.fi?; he
must be absolutely submissive.
His band I stay not, though his falchion slay me.
I praise His mercy, while His bolts affra~' me.'
So, too, Madame Guyon ;-
Be not angry, I resign
Henceforth, all my will to Thine,
I consent that thou depart,
Tho' thine absence breaks my heart,
Go, then, and for ever too,
All is right that thou wilt do.
Then this a.bsolute submission gaIns
wa.rd, which she thus describes ;-
This was just what Love intended.
He was now no more offended.
Soon as I became a child,
Love returned to me and smiled.
Ne"er strife shall more betide,
'Twixt the bridegroom and the Bride.
Fitzgerald in a free translation has caught the
spirit of 'Umar Khayyam's verse which, under
! This is why bs i. c..I1ed in the MIl0navi (Book i, Talc i)
'the son of the time present' .......,lI ~,- because be regards
neither the days past nor the dlLyS to come, but is a passivE"
instrument moved by the divine irnpuh;e of the moment.
• rt-->t .- ~~ -Uj r"; f, * rp 6J ...;..--" d f ~
~uFiISM 33
the metaphor of a chess board and chess men,
makes submission not even an effort of the will,
but looks on human beings as mere automatons,
moved by fate and at last hurled into non-existence.
'Tis all a ehequer.board of nights and days
Where destiny with men for pieces plays;
Hi~her and thither moves and ma~es and slays, .
And one by one back in the closet lays.
The entire negation of self clears the way for
the apprehension of the truth that there is no
existence save that of God. Life and its pleasures
veil the truth from the eye of man. These must
be set aside before the vision of the One is seen.
This is what is meant by passing from negation
to affirmation, and from ignorance to knowledge.
The initial stage is now passed and the man thus
its reo
becomes a Salik, or traveller, whose whole time
and thought are given up to suhik, or the pro-
secution of this mystica.l journey. This he must
do until he completes the upward ascent of the
circle and arrives at the perfect stage.
An important condition of entering on the
journey is to think on the mercies of God and
to ignore reason, which cannot discern the true
light. It is only as man closes up all his intel-
lectual apprehensions and ceases to strive to
know, that he attains to the real knowledge of
that which transcends the mind of man.
The light of reason applied to the very light of life
Is as the eye of the head applied to the sun.'
I )r ~ ),) r- ~ (;)1...1 * )t' =l.i ),) ,)1'" ," ",I
3
34 $UFiISM
The ~Ufi who would be perfect must first obey
the Shari'at, or sacred Law; then he enters
upon the Tariqat, or 'Vay, the path of search
after God. He now abandons forms and cere-
monies. If diligent he then attains to ma'rifat, or
8upernll.tural knowledge and finally gain Haqiqat,
or the Truth. But between the Commencement
and the end of the mystic journey in the 1'ariqat,
there are eight stages, I service, love, abstraction,
knowledge, ecstasy, the truth, union, extinction.'
It is not easy to fix the words of $Ufi poets and
to say to which stages they refer; but the ideas
relating to all are there, though in no systematic
order. Generally speaking, the second stage is
the popular one with the poets, who delight in
J St. Augustine arranges the ascent of the Boul in seyen stages.
The last, union, which he calls • the vision and contemplation
of Truth' is not .. step but tho goal of the journey. Of the
blessedness of this statc he says: 'I entered ..nd beheld with
the mysterious eye of my soul, the light that never changes,
abovo the oye of my sou], above my intolligenco. It was somo-
thing altogether dIfferent from any earthly illumination.'
W. R. Inge, Chri,.ti"n My.tid."" p, fSl.
Tauler places the .ascent in three stages. In tho first we
prl'Ctise soU-donial and must hI"! under strict rule and disciplino;
the second is contemplation: 'Wilt thou with St. John rest
on the loving breast of our Lord Jesus Christ, thOll must he
transformei into his beallteous ima.go by a. constant oarnest
contemplation thereof; , tho third stage is subjugation 01 the
will, a passive state of will and intellect. Ibid. p. 186-7.
• 'Abudiyat, 'ishq, zuhd, ms'rifat, "'ajd or ~'l, l,1aqlqat,
wa~l, fana. SeQ also the Jist givon by 'Adz ibn Mu~ammad
Nalasf in tho lIfaqsad-i.Aq~, quoted by Palmer in Or~"taf
M"di4:i.m, pp. 66-7.
$UFiISM 35
descriptions of God and man as the Beloved and
the Lover. Persian poetry deals with a ' mystical
apprehension of the unity and divinity in all
things which heightens the delight in natuml and
human beauty.' The praises of women and of
wine are sung by Niqanli, ~afi~, Sa'dI, and other
poets; but a mystical interpretation is placed on
their rhapsodies. 1 The $ufi seeks for a type of
heavenly love and finds it in earthly love. Beauty
'stands upon the threshold of the mystical world'
and so earthly love, idealized in the frenzy ot
Majmin for Laila and the passion of Zulaikha
for' Yusuf, seems to him the nearest resemblance
to the highest of all love, that of the soul for
God.
The $tifi reasons thus: 'From the love of
the reflection we pass to the love of the Light
which casts it; and loving the Light, we at
length become one with It, loving the false self
and gaining the True, therein attaining at length
to happiness and rest, and becoming one with
all that we have loved-the essence of that
which constitutes the beauty alike of a noble
'lIoction, a beautiful thought, or a lovely face.' I
This is the key to ma'rifat, or spiritual know-
ledge and so the basis of the highest life. 'The
1 A good gloss..ry of tho technic..l and ~llegorioal expressions
in the writings of the !;lull p0ets will be found in tho Appendix
to Palmer's Oriental M".ti4:i.m.
• Browne,: A lI,ar amongat Ihe PeTltlan., p. 129.:
36 $uFfrSM
eye brings with it only what it longs to see,' lUld
the man is blind to the deep things of the mystic
life until the inner eye is made intelligent by love.
Human love, then, symbolizes the divine, the
tavern is an oratory, intoxica~ion the confusion
caused by the sight of the Divine, the locks of
the beloved are the visible attributes of God in
nature,1 which like the curls on the face partly
hide and partly reveal it.
In the 'Diwan-i-I;£a.fi?;' we read: 'I said to
him, "Knowest thou what the chain of the curls
of the B.eloved means?" He said, "f.[a.fil\ makes
a complaint of the long and dark night of sepa-
ration; " 'I that is, these chains bind the soul not
yet worthy of the full light. Shelley has. the
same idea in
Life of life I Thy lips enkindle
With their love the breath between them;
And tby smiles before tbey dwindle
Make the cold air fire; then screen them
In those locks, where whoso gazes
Faints entangled in their mazes.
No. doubt l;lUfls often press the language of the
poets too far, and show a faulty exegesis, for not
Tbe varied pictures I h""e drawn on spaco,
I I Fitzgerald, quotcd in Le"f's Versions from ?djiz, p. 17,
Bebold wbat fair and goodly sights thcy seem I
One glimpse I g"ve tbem of my glorious facc.
The last line is litcrally, 'I showcd tbem " hair's point of my
curl ' - r",.-J "r ~j jI <.5,,- r-
• ~ J'" (;)4 o..Al) :, ~ Some look for truth in creods and forms a cd rules;
"f<-" '..IIi -,....e. >' AI.! 1.>\0. ~
$UpfrSM 37
all their poems are mystical. Whilst words bear-
ing an allegorical signification were often used to
veil what to the devout Muslim would otherwise
have been heresy, they often express just the
mind of a man of pleasure, fond of a Bohemian
life. Anyhow, I;Ia.fi?; has not the credit of being
a man of ascetic life. He delighted 'to float
luxuriously between heaven and earth, and this
world and the next, on the wings of a poetica.l
expreSSIOn, that might serve indifferently for
either.' 1
The ordinary theologian cannot enter on the
mystic path, for he is still in the bondage of
dogmas and so wa.nders about in darkness. He
cannot grasp the full meaning of the Unity."
When it is fully realized it leads the$ti.fl to
annihilate self in the absolute Truth, to become
eternal in the Absolute, to be made one with the
One and to abstain from evil; or, as f.[il.fil\ says : -
J;Iafi,:, when preaching unity with unitarian pen,
Blot out and cancel every page that tclls of spirits and
of wen.
where tbe wbole subject is diseusscd.
2 .>olJli ~ J' 0.=- J" ~)4 *"""j .J,J "}.>.i f of~
Gulshan-i-Rdz, line 108.
So "Iso in thc RuM'lytlt we read
Some grope for doubt or dogmas in ths scbools;
But from bebind tbe veil a voice proclaims
Your roa.d lies neither bere nor there, 0 fools.
 38 $UFIISM $UFfISlvr 89
On the other hand, the ordinary theologian is Since His works arc manifeated from Hia essence,
in the bondage of taqlld, that is, enslaved to His eaaence ia not manifested from Hia worka;
dogmas and to creeds, believing blindly what has The light of His essence is not contained in Fhenomena,
For the glory of Hia Majesty is very grea~. I
been believed by those who, have preceded him.
~Iifls
even go so far as to set ~s!~e any ex-
Now, the 1;)tifl gains his knowledge of the divine
ternal religious revelation. Indeed, llldifference to
essence by direct intuition, and not through, or-
all forms of religion is a. cardinal 1;)1ifl dogma."
dinary theological instruction, nor by scholastic
Thus Shamsu'd-Dln-Tabrlzi;-
methods which deal with the attributes of quan-
While my loved phantom dwells in the pagoda'a hound,
tity, quality, and relation.! He purifies his soul 'Twere mortal sin, should I the Ka'ha compass round,
from sensible forms and images, so that from all
intellectual apprehensions and alI operations of teaching. The earlier Christiao mystics, believing that God i~
the mind he may closer to us 'than breathing, and oearer thon hands aod feet
,
were Impa. t'c
I t of aoy
n intermediaries
. We oeed "oot search for
Dismiss cares and be clear of heart. Hie foot prints in Dature, when we ca.n behold HIS !ace In our.
Like thc face of a mirror on which there is no reflection, selves is their answcr to St. Augustinc's fine e"presswn that all
Whcn it hccomes clcar of imagea, I\ll imagea al'C containcd thO b . ht and beautiful in the world are' footprmts of the
lOgs rIg , f I' . h'
in it.' uDclea.ted wisdom.' Coleridge bas expressed theu ee 109 In 18
Ode to Vejeetion.
Even contemplation of the external works of It were a vain endeavour,
nature will not give the light. All the illusory Though I should gaze for ever
On that green light that lingers io the We.st.
phenomena which hide the truth must be cast I ma.y not hope from outw'!.rd (orms to. WIn. ..
aside. 3 The passion and the life whose fountalOs are wlthm.
W. R. Inge, Chri.tian My.hctsm, pp. 216, 27.

'0'f;i ~ &i~ .bi W * (:)~ , ~ ~\.l ar--
I A.:- ,
Gul.han-i-Rdz, line 3
j\
,.W ,.....,. a"L. J", ~ u,) ~,u\
..........,,; ) \$:J, ~ as "-'t'0.5') (:)ft
-=- »" ~ 4<lo ~ jI ... a"l.. (:)~
Dl!wan.i-Sham&-i.Tabrizi, Ode xiii.
3 Jnan d'Avila says: 'Lot us put .. veil between ourselves
and all created things.' Juan d'Aviin., with other Spa.nish mystioa,
was persecuted hy the Inquisition and in 1559 one of his
books was placed 00 the Index. lnsiatence on disinterested love
and admonitions to close the eye of sense formed pa.rt of their
I .... \i~ .\ """»,\ \.l ""fJ * ....
\.l jI ~ ~» ~\i~ ft
;A'1i ~ J.l~ l-.- as *;A'u.... ),u\ .... \.l )1 ~
Gul.han.i-Rd., line 115.
• In the seventb tnle of the sec0nd book of the MaUi""vi it is
""id that )[oees heard a shepherd praying thus: '0 God ehew
me where Thou art that I may become Th~ se;v..nt, clean Thy
.hoes, dress Thy hair and fetch Thee mIlk. Moses rebuked
tbe man [or his foolish prayer. He was ashamed and ran a~ay.
God then rebuked Moses, saying, 'To each race I have g.vcu
-different wnys of praising me. It is. not tb~ words I carc for,
but the spirit in which they ere sa.d. Vanous are the ways
of devotion but if genuine all are accepted.'
40 !?UFiISM !?UFfISM 41
The Ka'ba i. bUI a church, if Ihere Hi. Irl\Ce oe 10.1; For wher.vel' loy. i•• Iher. i. Ihe fl\Ce of Ibe Beloved.
The Church my onl.'" I\:a'o&, while He there is found.' t \\'herever the pious workR of the Mu.-Jim hermitage dis-
So 'Umar KhaYylim ; - play tbeil' beauly.
In cell and cloister, monastel'y and a,rnagogue, one lies Tbere are Iho bell. of Ihe Cbri.liau eouvenl and Ihe name
In dread of Hell, on. d,·eam. of Paradi.e. of the er08•.
Bul none thaI know the .eeret. of Ih. Lord Even idol worship is allowed in the Glllshall-i-
Have sown their heartH with Bucb like (aotaaieR. j Rdz:-
So Ju.lalu'd-Dfn H{tml:- Since all Ibing. are Ihe manife.ton of Being,
Say nol that all Ihe•• creed. are fal.e. One amonget them must be an idol. 1
The fal •• one. eaplur. hearl. b.v the .eenl of lrulh. If Ibe Mnsalmin bul knew what i. failh.
Say Dol they "re "II erroneous thoughl>, He would .ee loal failh i. idol wo..hip.
There is thought in the \varld void of I'ealit~·. If the pol.),theiBt. only knew what. an idol WI\8,
He who .ay. evlrylhing i. true i. a fool, How could he go a.tray in hi. religion? Y
lIe who says all il4 falae is a knave. 3
He sees in idols naught but the visible creature'
So also J:fafiz:- and that is the reason that hc ia legn.lly 110 heathen.
Het.ween the lo\'e of the cloister Rod &.bat of the tavern ,Tall\lu'd-Dln Huml, treating of the samc subject
there is no difference.
and in the same spirit, sn.ys : -
Cross and Christ.ian, from end to entl
...... \.0 1i~ J~ \1 a~ )~ I eurve)'cd; He Was not on the CrOBB.
......u... ~ j' ....s vI;" ~) I went to tb. idol temple. to Ihe ancienl pagOdR,
......1 ..,:.J ~;I..IJ ..,JI , jl ....s f No trace was "iBible there.
J bent Ihe rein. of .e.reh to the Ka'ba•
...... \.0 4...s' ..;.;i ,I J \.0, ..,,. I,
He was not in that resort of old and 'yonng.
V'lVu,,·ShtJnu·i·Tabrizi, p. 288.
• ~ , ft~ , '-)oW , ...., . )~ 1 ;au... \) ...r---'" ...-Jb ~, r.
.......... ..,1, ~ , """'j,~ j aJoJo-.! ;41 1, ..... Jo< ~ ",1 >'
~
......1 ".. I, I....
re
)'r--'
j 1$ ~I
J~ ",»..IJI)~ ,.,;,; (;)fj
• .......-. , 1$ .,r-',.... f ",W---
Rubd'iUtit.i·'umllr KIt"UlIdm. ........"--)1 ..... )~ ""~ 1$ U"-', .....
, .lo.ll~ ,.I~ .,.. ..,,.;' ~I, • ......u.1, \.rl~ ~ ""IS' f=J \J"'l ..r-:-f ,In ..... ) -dr- f'
J~,oJ\.,)~-=--01""""""" • Jl4 , .....-l~ ~ y:...
\J"'l ~ ,',-s ~;4 (;)f~ )~ ~
~,'JloI,~-'!,r~I,. ,a. '" I .......... ~ Joj,r~' Gul!lum-;-Rf;3, Iinc!' SC.R, A71l-S.
JIn!!plRtli, Book II, T~lc xi. 3 That is, thc phenomenal.
42 SUFIISM
But it was all of no ava.il, for the loved one came
not into view, until he could say ;_ .
I gazed into my own heart;
There I saw him, He was nowhere else.
In the whirl of its transport my spirit was tossed,
Till each atom of separate being I lost. 1
In thus setting aside all external revelations and
in removing from the mind all impressions from
outward phenomena, all names and words are set
lI.side, the heart reflects each new created form,
a!?-d is illuminated with divine glory. This is set
forth in a striking allegory by Jahilu'd-Dln, the
greatest of all the $Ufl poets. A Sultan held an
audience of Chinese and of Greek painters, who
both claimed superiority. The Sulta.n gave to the
two parties houses on opposite sides of the street,
in order that the skill of both might be seen at the
same time. The Chinese painted their house with
many colours and in a most gorgeous manner, while
the Greeks used no paint but simply burnished and
polished the house allotted to them. When all was
ready the Sultan went to inspect the work and
much admired the beauty of the house painted by
the Chinese. He then turned to the house of the
Greeks, and
1 "r-l ~ ).-;1 ,.",.-.;l *~ r- '" I.,l IT'" , ~
"r-l I-'!~ d'oJ) r-'" , )" * ~ ft~
"r-l Ii Jl , ~ .>.oiLo ",' )" *..,...ll. '" w.
"r-l \". f" ~" .,;.\". ",' J" * ~,... J"
",-J ,~ 6;.1 ",' .. )1 lIS * ,...... ",'r,
~UFIISM 43
. Just as the Greeks have put their curtain back,
Down glides a sunbeam through the lifted clouds,
And, 10, tbe coloura of that rainbow bouse
Shine, all reflected on those glassy walls,
Tbat face them, rivalling: the sun hath painted,
With lovelier blending, on that stony mirror
The colours spread by man so artfully.
Know, then, 0 friend I Such Greeks the l',llifis are,
Owning nor book nor master, and on earth
Having one solo and simple task to make
Their hearts a stainless mirror for their God.
Is thy heart clear snd argent as the Moon?
Then imaged there may rest, innumerous,
The forms and lines of heaven. \
'fhe fact is that reason is considered helpless in
such cases; if the heart is cleansed' from the stain
of being' it is right with God. All is then well and
the inner light is seen, light and life are found,
certainty takes the place of doubt and love for ever
rules the man. 'Just as the motion of an atom
is towards its origin, a man becomes the thing on
which he is bent." Under the direction of the
1 ",\".0 ), ..\I~ ~4 1; 6")t* ",\".oj) ~~ ...., ",' ;I .>.AI
u. }t-" u ..... ~I.o I)!Jl") * u. }"f ",' , 1-'-';
",' ~
""1"'" Ai~ 6-,!";\ IJ 6"'l" *"~ ~I "" ~, ~ l-
i"" J *
, ~~ }fJ) J ~ ~I ...,; lei,.. ",' ",\".oj)
W, J:.i,I, ',j'j'" , )1) ~~ * Yo-- ",' ..\I' 6"r JAooo ~
""'J 6J~ AI .....-1 jl \:i 1; y.... ~ ""),.. * ....-.-l" o....A.o, 6ooIJ"\ ~IJ.." ""
,. I, . < a.,.,.s:, MaU;navi, Book I, Talc xiv.
,."f 6,$;j
J..\I I
....-"'4~ • ",....... ",' ~ J..- "" ~ I- * .....-1 ",... ~4 6;.1 I- ~
D.wtin-Sham.-i-Tabri.i, p. 254.
 f;lUFIISM 45
44
Primal Element. l . 'l'he effect of love at last reached
Plr, the neophyte will be shown all this and]be man, but only those who have the spirit of
guided aright. humanity and the capacity realize its full effect.
God's sen'i\nt is His shadow here helow on earth, ." Some gain philosophic wisdom only; some
To this world dead, but living in a second birth..
become religious in the ordinary sense and follow
To his skirts cling: from him the soul's nutrition see,
That from calamity of the last age thou mayst be free. I the traditional systems; but some become in-
toxicated with divine love." Such are the true
The traveller must know his origin, he must
travellers, and in them the effect increases, until
purify himself from all notions of self, and then
they get freedom from. all dogma and all ritual
he will pass from stage to stage and his journey
and even from existence itself. The desire of
will be one long revelation, leading him on from
such an one so grows that it is said of him,
the mazes of Contingent Being to the Necessary
, The ocean-hearted, mighty drinker, who at one
Being and away from all darkness and defect."
draught drinks up existence and so obtains re-
He sees not only himself, but all phenomena
lease from affirmations and negations and becomes
intoxicated with the wine of divine love, begin-
free from all need of worship and ceremony, now
ning with the heavens and the angels.
seizes the skirt of the Ancient of the wine-house.' 3
The heavens giddy with this wine, are reeling to and fro,
The' Ancient' is the Plr by whom the Mudd,
Desiring in their hearts to smell its perfume;
The angels, drinking it pure from pure vessels, or disciple, has been initiated, and under whose
Pour the dregs of their draught upon the world. 3
I!!oliffs believe that the first thing God created was tbe Primal
The heavens and the angels were created be- Element (J,' /",..). This He created of Himself, without any
fore man and were e'l.rlier emanations from the medinm whate~er. They quote in support of this, the verse 'And
the business of the last hour will be but a8 the twinkling of an
I *
I....... ~J.l) , ,.lit! e,:,11 !"')'"" I....... ~'""l "''' (:)I"'j! AlL...
eye, or even less.' [Suratu'n·Na!}1 (xvi) 79J. It more properly
(:)\.0) 1-' ~, ;' ",Ill) Ii * (:)~ i,j r-f ,I &"1,,, relates to the Last Day. On the whole subject, see Palmer,
Malli""vi. Book I, Tale iii. OriB"ta/ Mysticism, pp. SS-6, 43, 55,57.
" "',"'), JoJ' (:)~ "'~ ",1\.0 "'f'- ) * "',) "')..~ f "''' (:), ~\-o 2 ~It! ~ ,-""IJ'" ~ jI ~
J--IS' (:lWI jI "''''f Ii "',J * J)l:..o )'" J,' r--- ~ Gulshan.i-Rdz, line 834.
"'f,.. ~ J--IS' (:lWI Ii AS' * "',..,.. ~ (:)~ Ii AS' J,' (:ll.>.r 3 J'.t' r- J.l) J'" It)""""j .~
GuZslum·i-Rdz, lines 315-17. )\.SJI , ;1,,., Il..:al.!
j ~,; *)4 ~ I; ~ ~.....Lo.')",
3 loS" ~ .....4 J'" )'" I,... * 1oS,t \$J' )'" loS' J' A::..:.S r .:J:li =411- Po &"1,,, Il..:af * =\.0\1.,
~ "Gi j E)U ~ .....
~ e,:,1;l loS"')'" ~) ~J'l'l * $~ !)f J' u\.o ~"')~ &)\,.. Gu/shan·i-E liz, line 836.
GuZshan-i-Rdz, lines 727-8.
46 ~ruFiIsM ~uFiI8M 47
St~ightway lift yourself above' time and space,
training he at length arrives at this exalted
QUIt the world and be yourself a world to yourself.'
state. As this love deepens and pervades the soul, ex-
But all that takes time and he must commence
ternal things become of less and less moment.
at the first stage, that of servitude. He becomes
The outward forms of religion and custom no
an 'Abid, a servant. At this stage it is said that
longer bind the traveller, for true obedience now
The bonour of man lie. in being under compulsion,
lies in discarding them. Distinction between the
Not in this that he hes a share in free will.'
creeds passes away. The authority of law is
For a time the law has control. Some restraint
over the '1', but
IS needed till further developments take place.
When I end thou remain not in the midst,
The reaeon wh)' He has imposed on )'ou the law \Vhat i.s mosque, what is synagogue, what is fire temple? I
Is because He has given to you of His own essence; The ldea of '1' and 'we' is for this lower worldly
As you are helpless under this burden of law,
state, where praise and prayer ascend to God'
Abandon lind forsake this self of yours. I
but the higher stn.te is this:- '
The next stage is that of love. Jalalu'd·D1n . Immersed in the Beloved we shall he,
Rumi says:- When in one soul shall we be, I and tbee.'
Love Him whom saints and prophets all have 10\'ed J aml in the poem called Saldman and A bsdl
Through whom alone we all hllve lived and moved.3 says : -
But to realize this love perfectly, all notions of Love is only
Perfed when itself transcends
time and space must be set aside.
Itself, and, one with that it loves,
In undivided Being blends.
1 <=-!)~I. ,-""..i ~f "" &l * .....-I})1....1 )
~ u ..", ......If 1 "'~ , ",I ), i ]I 61) ~
Gulsl,an.i·Rdz, line M4.
,-.. '"40>- ",.. )" ",.. ,;I ~ ",40>-
I .>J"f ~ .........- ",I) -=--"r-1 auZslum·I·Rdz, Iino 299•
.,;"f '-"-!1'" """," ""I J ;I 6$ o.::-S <:y" ;I ~~ ~ ~
i ~,.. )"'u, ..,... ~ ;I ,.. o.::-S (;)i , '" \.0, ~ ]I "" 6$
i~» ""r-l '" \e.o ;I ) ~ 1.1 \e.o)" .,; \.oJ "',.. <:y" i ,
aulshan·I·Rdz, lines 55!l-9. 1.11.<. ;!" A.. ~ ....... ~ A..
" '" --..---- 't
auZ.hall·i.R<lz, lines 504-5.
I
\",J' AI...,. 6$ ~.f! "" ~
\.,! J )'$ ,I ~ ;I """"~
3 .>.1,-.. '" \.0, ~ ~ 'vo,; , <:y" Ii
MaLhnavi, Book I.
.>.1,-.. ",11\.0, J~ ........u,
Mallinavi, Book 1.
48 f?UFiISM l?UFiISM 49
So also Shamsu'd-Din Tabrlzi 'I'his entire abstraction is called (ajrld, liter-
Ye who in search of God. of God, pureuc, ally a stripping off, and, in $Ufi language, a
Ye necd not search, for God is you, is you I turning away from self and all else, the mor-
'Vhy seck a something which was missing nc'er? tifir.ation of all desires, sensual and intellectual.
Save you none is. but you are whcre, where.' a Should this cause sorrow and poverty of mind,
Having thus learnt to throw off forms and then in God is true rest found.
look forwards to the true union, the traveller can a tbou who art m~' soul's comfort in the season of Borrow,
advance one stage more. He becomes a Zahid, a thou who arC my spirit·s treasure in the bitterness of
or abstracted. Contemplation and silence are now dearth. 1
his duty. He must not respond to any earthly It is only as this abstraction is persevered in and
love, for the 'lover of God must be silent.' II made perfect that the light of divine guidance
And if nothing personal must disturb the attrac- shines upon the path. 1I
tion, the drawing, of the soul upward to God, The light then comes and the next stage, that
so neither must any mundane affairs affect it. of ma'rifat, or knowledge, is entered upon. It
The man must be perfectly oblivious to all that is by the light of the truth that truth is known.
goes on in the world. 3 The traveller has no real existence of his own, it
Why should I Borrow, though deBolatioll abound,. is only by the communicated knowledge of the
In such desolation we royal treasureB find an. existence of God that he Cll.n know Him. 'Beside
He who is drowned in God, in Him surely is found,
Like a wavc of the Bell., thc Boul will rise calmly and fall. •
Him is no knower or known.'
We have already seen 3 that God created the
1 "..:,~ "..:,..... } < . I l. ~\l"l worlds in order to manifest forth His glory. 'The
"..:w. "..:w. .....-"l ~ ......... 1... • first thing created was 'aql, or reason, logos,
"..:~ ~)'<l jI ,.s ~"fJ 6$ ~ the unspoken thought, then the spoken word.
"..:~ "..:~ .....-"l l.-.e. ~ v-S From this 'aql, or logos, emanated the 'aql-i-kull,
II ...;.4 ...;.".~ ~,I Jo"ou, ~r.
3 So thc Arabic proverh ~\.o o:tlj ((,,;.,lI) ~ 6.-oUI <:ll- 1 '.r- J',) ~ yU .:;~ 6$.s' * '.r- J\". -=--,) "),, r~ 60S .s'
-4 Salvation from the world is to renounce the things of the Diwdn·i-Sham.-i-Tabrizi, Ode vi.
'World.' • Diwcin"-Sham.-i-Tabdzi. So al80 Master Eckhart. 'I tell
you, by the e&ernal truth. that ye are not rightly poor when.
., "JI ..ill.!- ~ ..i'I-' 1-) * "JI ..i'h 6$ ,.;1" ~ ~ ~ ye have a will to perform the will 01 Gnd, or any desire of God ;
Jl) , ft) <:l \.0. J'bI t". y:rJ> *j .:;~ 001-60 4 6$ ..IAI~ ~.:;~ for the poor man is be who wills, knows, and desires nothing.'
.., . '
Ma0navi, Book 1. 3 Ante, p. 17.
4
 !?UFfISM
Qr universal soul, the sum of all the divine attri-
butes, called the 'ayan-i-thabita. The light of
these divine ideas then shone upon the darkness
of Not-being and each atom of Not-being reflected
Qne of them.· Heaven and the angels, for
instance, reflected the attributes of mercy and
hell , and the devils the attributes of terror. At
last the soul of man, which reflects all the attri-
butes, merciful and terrible, was created. 'Man
is thus a microcosm, or recapitulation of the
whole universe. On the one side he is luminous
with the light of the merciful,attributes, but on
the other he is black with the darkness of the
terrible ones, reflected in his essential Not-being.
He is thus created "half to rise and half t'o fall",
and has power to refuse the evil 1tnd choose the
good. But all the phenomena of the universe,
man included, have no real existence of their
own; but are renewed every moment by the
eonstant outpouring, through the Logos, of reftec-
. tions from the one Noumenon and, when the
~ivine purposes are accomplished, the whole
phantasmagoria of phenomenal existence will
vanish and "God will he heir of all".' g It is
the object of the Arif, or Gnostic, to penetrate into
this divine scheme and to understand how divine
• The eum of tho ·reflected raye is the perfeot image of God ;-
~ JW J-li' ,oJ\<:~' A..:.!' (:)ft" Diw4n-i-Shams-i-Tabrizi,
<>d. xl.
I Whintleld's Ma0natli, p. 20.
E?UFfISM 51
'Power can be exercised without impugning divine
goodness. The difficulty of the existence of evil,
and the apparent contradiction of absolute Baver·
.eignty and free will face him, aB it does all men,
but through ma'rifat, or gnosis, he learns to
understand it all and to reconcile the apparently
irreconcilable. He views 'all existing religions
as more or leBS faint utterances of that great
underlying Truth with which He has finally en-
tered into Communion.'· He is reticent for
Abu Sulayman, surnamed ad-Daranl (A.D. 830)
says: 'When the Gnostic's spiritual eye is opened,
his bodily eye is shut: they see nothing but
Him.' Again,' Gnosis is nearer to silence than to
speech.'"
This high knowledge leads on to :ijal, or wa.jd,
which is a. state of ecstasy. The ecstatic condi-
tions are the result of divine knowledge. !:Ill.l is
-defined to be 'a state which occurs to the heart
spontaneously and without effect, like grief or
fear, or desire or joy, and which ceases as soon
as the natural dispositions of the soul manifest
themselves.'
Happy that time when we leave ourselves,
When we shall be rich in deepeet poverty.3
'I'o the man intoxicated with the wine of divine
love; the paradise of the ordinary believers is
• Brown•• A Lit.mry History 0/ Po'';a, vol. i. p. 424.
• Quoted in Nicholson's A Lit..ary HistorU 01 the Arabs, p. SSG.
3 ,...,...4
..A!))" ) ~ .:,~ * ,...,...4
..A!,.. '-" \.. 6S ,-..;' ..;.,..
atllsha,,-i-Rde, line G99.
52
phenomenal, and, as such, no longer an object
of desire.' It would only hinder the complete
effacement of self, and would in accord with the
• uttermost poverty', as it lies apart from real
unity for, 'so long as heaven and hell are in the
way, the soul can never realize the mystery.'
It is at this stage that impostors are sometimes.
(ound, and they cast discredit on it, but it is said
that the fact that some men use terms without.
knowing their real signification, and without ex-
periencing their reality, is not to be looked on
as making them unreal.
Though to an men the secretB of the truth are not known,
TheBe mystic BtateB are n"t mere illuBion.\
The next stage is that of J;Iaqiqat, the Truth.
This is caned by some the stage of saintship, as
being that at which saints and prophets arrive.
It has its most perfect and complete example in
MUQammad, who is the Saint and Prophet, pa,1-
excellence.
Individual BaintB are, as' it were, hiB memberB,
For he iB the whole and they are the parts.'
The next stage is that of Wa.'!l, or union with
God. 'By the help of God's grace I am now
1 ... i _ • e }r-\ '»\oJ v-S fb aJ
.....-L.:..b. JI,..I .....-.i ~j-""
au/shan-j.Hllz, lino 788.
1': IJ ,I \,,3,1
~ (:)~I, ..........."lS ,I
$UFiISM 53
'become safe, because the unseen King says to
"me, "Thou art the soui of the world.'" \
God ~s the world, and the $Ml at this stage be-
,comes Identical with the divine essence and can
,say with Man\lUr J;Iallaj: 'I am God'; or with
Bayazld.i-Bist>&ml, • There is nothing within my'
·coat except God.'.
. He now ignores all separate existence, and noth-
109 remains but real Being. The chamber of the
heart is sw~pt. clear of all phenomenal appearances,
1l.n~ then It IS that God enters in, for • in you
VOId o~ yourself win He display His beauty.' 8
yntII the knower is quite free from the stain of
eXIstence the knOWledge which he has gained has
not the form of experience.' • Or, as !;Ili.fi?i says:-
Sweep off the life of J;lafl~ aB a dream,
While Thou art, none Bhan hear me Hay, • I am '.
'The fonowing passage from the Gulshan-i-Raz
.describes this stage more fully:-
The glory of the Truth admitB 01 no duality,
In that glory iB no I, nor we, nor thou.
~\ ;\ ~ ~I ,I ~ ~",. ;\
I".. d I.v.- '=' I.t- ~ !;'IloL- ~Y
•
, Diwt!n-i·Shams-i_ Tabrizi, Ode vi .
olJJI f -~ - - or
_ r-:~~\.1"'1l"
3
~W oJr .)~ i d ~
.. au/shan-i·Rdz, line 402 •
~ 'I ..... 4 oJ" Ii ..,i'--Jb j
oJ,.., ""'" ...,Jr -.J}" ~ ~ y
as au/shan·;"Rllz, line 404.
54 $lfFiISM
I, we, thou, Bnd He ..rc ..11 one thing,
For in unity there iB no diBtinction of perBons. I
This a.bsorption is sometimes described a.s being
two {arms and figures with, one soul, and some-
times as being two souls in one body. In the one
case as in the other the union is complete, for
H..ppy is that time when we both Bat in one paJe.ce-
. thou ..nd I,
With two forms, two figures, but with one Boul-thou
..nd I."
This union with God is sometimes based on-
the verse: • He is the First and the .Last; the.
Seen and the Hidden' (i. e. the exterior and the
interior), [Suratu'I-I;fa.did (Ivii) 3].3 $Ufis ex-
plain the term exterior (~ahir) by everything that
appears, so that all thmgs are God; but the
orthodox say that they are only the proofs of
His existence not His nature. l;)Ufis also quote.
the Tradition. • I am Al;lmad without the mim
( 1") and I am • Arab without the' Ain (e.).' 4 This
, ..,......; '.J ~ ""'r- ..... ~
..},oJ
..,......; ..}i, \.. , cr ""'r- (:)\)oJ
~ ~ ..::-Ol ,\ , i , \.. , cr
j<4J l!""b .........1..,; .".,.....,)oJ oS
Gul.han-i-Rch, line. 448-9.
• i, cr - (:)\~\)oJ ,.e'••., oS ,-oJ (:), ~
i , cr - (:) ~ ~ ""'),.-,-'1 , I.f.lU
Dewcln-i·Sham••i·Tabrizi, Ode xxxviii.
,-'I
3 ~OIj ~1tJ\j ~1\j j,~'~
• ""'" lI, .....; r Ii\, ,.",.. ll, "-\ Ii\
55
would then read al;lad, or the one, but the Tra..c
dition is a doubtful one, on this verse and this
Tradition, however, $ufis base their doctrine that
'God is all and all is God', or as they term it
'hama ust'.'
After the battle of Badr this verse was re-
vealed: • It was not ye who slew them, but God
slew them; and those shafts were God'~ not
thine.' • To the ordina.ry reader this means that
God aided the Muslims, but the $uf! sees in the
words the proof tha.t God is only the agent and
man is only the mirror in which His actions are
displayed. The unreality of the univarse is sup-
posed to be taught in the words, 'All on the
earth shall pass away; but the face of thy Lord
shall abide resplendent with majesty and glory.' J
From this and other texts the Muslim with mys-
tical tendencies leads himself to believe that he
finds in the Qur'an support for the idealism and
the mysticism of the $Ufi system. .
The verse of the Qur'an, • Oh! thou soul which
art at rest, return to thy Lord pleased and
pl~asing Him: enter thou among my servants
and enter thou my Paradise,' 4 is interpreted to
, -=--,\ ~
• Suratu'I.Anflil (viii) 17.
3 Siiratu'r-Ra~m8n (Iv) 26-7.
• u:~; ~~';.s.4: ~ ~~(; ~';.: ~\j ~ Jii ~)
Suratu'l-Fajr (lxuix) 27-80.
 56 $UFiISM 57

mean tha.t God a.nd the blessings of His presence
--are to be found in the hea.rt of the believer.
Thus Ja.lalu'd-Din says 1;_
The Prophet said, that God hath declr..red,
I am not contained in aught above or below
I am not contained in earth, or sky, or even
In biihest heaven, know this lor a surety, 0 heloved!
I am contained in the heliever's heart J
II you seek me, search in such hearts.
Man~ur I;IalIaj is reported to ha.ve said :-
T am He whom I love and He whom I love is I;
We are two souls dwelling in one body.
When thou seest me, thou seest Him,
When thou seest Him, thou seest us hoth.-
Jal:~lu'd-Dln
na.rrates the following story; • One
came to the Beloved's (God's) door and knocked.
And a voice from within said, "who is there?"
And he said, "It is 1." Then the voice said,
.. This house will not hold Me and Thee", and
* -=-, 6",..;.;<>- loS ~ o.z.-A!
'.
1 ~,~II)" ~ ~ 0'"
. ,....s:s * r-' "';'r , ",I..-' , ~J y>
j!)"..s' ",'" ~ (:l! t 0'"
'.r- * .......,.., ..s' ~ 0'"'" J" )"
.,...lL. l.)" ",')" ...;,... f
MaU!"avi Book Y, Tale viii.
There Is a tradition to the same efTect :--
.l,i\;i ~, :t;e ~- ._~, ':"'}j
•The hearts of believe.. are the throne of God.'
~ \i:,j ~ ~~~ ~ * iii ..s~i ;;.; ..s~~ ~ \i~
G~L At~f (1\ ;
•
* A;~i ,..A.:.'if
••
"j~
NicholaoD, Dewdll-i-Sluz"..·i.Tabrizi, p. 296.
the door was closed. And the lover (the soul of
man) departed into the wilderness, and fasted and
'prayed in solitude. After a year he came again
to the Beloved's dOOI', and knocked. . And a voice
from within said, " Who is there?" And he said,
"It is Thyself." And the door was opened unto
him.
AbU Sa.'ld ibn Abi'l-Khair says;-
The Gnostic, who hath known the m)'stery,
Is one with God, and from his sell· hood free:
Affinn God's Being and deny thine own;
This is the meaning of 'no god buL He '.1
Jalalu'd-Dln describes how the emancipated man
is exalted above heaven and earth and rises to 1Io
state past all description. It was;-
Ecstacy and words be)'ond all ecstatic words,
Immersion in the glory of tho. Lord of glory,
Immersion from which escape wa" none
Except as ocean, no one knew him more. 2
A fa.vourite illustration is that of a number of
-candles, each of which gives light; but the full
light of all cannot be divided into separate parts.
'One light and one only is diffused. When the
·outward form is looked upon, this unity is not
seen, but when with the • inner eye' search is
made for the divine light, the complete union is
I Quoted in Browne'B A Literary History (I!Pcrsin, vol. ii, p. 2G7.
~ JlIq,ll,J J'- )" A,;,:.S' oJl * Jli, JI... <.5~,J' .Jli, JI...
...;.....u.:.l ~ 4).. ~ 4 * ...;..."""4 -.s"lID. loS J All
Ma0nati, Book It Tale viii.
58 $UFiISM
manifest. I Language Buch as thiB haB been uBee}
by mysticB in other lands and under different.
conditions of time and place. Thus Tauler sayB:
'He (man) flings himself into the divine abyBB, in
which he dwelt eternally before he waB created;
then, when God findB the man thus simply and
nakedly turned towards Him, the Godhead bends.
down and descends into the depths of the pure
waiting soul, and transforms the created soul,
drawing it up in the uncreated eBsence, BO the
spirit becomes one with him.' II He also says:
• Raise thyself to the height of religion and all
veils are removed; the world and the dead princi-
ple paSBes away from thee, and the very Godhead
enters thee anew in its first and original form,
as life, as thine own life, which thou shalt and!
oughteBt to live.' 3 Again he Bays: •For if the'
highest Itnd most gloriouB unity, which iB God'
Himself, iB to be united to the soul, it must be
through oneness. Now, when the Boul 'hath ut-
terly forsaken itself and all creatures and made
itself free from all manifoldness, then the sole
unity, which is God, anBwers truly to the one-
ness of the soul, for there iB nothing in the BOU!
beside God."
. \
'-"-, ,-' ...... ~ l,,$~ =)J"'l (:)~
,-,,-I ~ (:)15 P )-' ..r)r i
Ma-tl.mavi, Book I.
II Vaughan, HOILTS with tho Mystics, vol. i. p. 299.
3 Ibid. vol. i, p. 212.
• Overton. Life of L,&/o, p. 151.
$UFlISM
At thiB Btage the deBire for heaven even may
be a. hindrance to perfect union.
Wha.t ha.ve we to do with the deBire for the higheBt
hea.venB?
When our joumey iB to the rOBe ga.rden of union. 1
The next and final Btage is Fana, or that of
annihilation in God (Fan a fj'lllih). This is re-
ferred to in the • GuIBhan-i-Rb' in the verseB·
which direct the traveller to drink the wine which
is free from all phenomenal qualities, and to wash
away the writing which describes separate Being.
When this is done he will be able to say: • Now
I neither exist in myself, nor do I not exist.'
Some of the latest words of Jall1Ju'd-Din were:
'All being came out of nothing and again it
will be shut up in the prison of non-existence.
Such is God'B decree from all eternity.' •Why
learn about the unity of God. Annihilate thyself
before the One. If thou wouldeBt Bhine with
the splendour of day, bum up thy Iieparate exist-
ence 80S black as night.' II
No soul can enter heaven without paBslDg
through this Btage of annihilation, for
I \..0 (:)':r---A .....,L., )~ * ....lO.>, H l,,$1.co't> l,,$\.,. ~.
DiIOc1".i·Shams-i·TabTizi, Ode ii.
• ~,- ""', J-<l ,) ~~ * ~,...., ,..... "-i ~
.Jrl'J -'~ ....... (:)""""...r-'" * .J» ~ l,,$.J'J'l iU d"'~ ~f
MaQtnavi, Book I, Tale x.
~o $UFIISM
Ascension to heaven is annihilation of self.
Annihilation is the creed aIJd religion of lovers.!
A story is told of how a. gnat came to Solomon
and complained about the enmity of the wind.
The King summoned both parties to his presence.
The wind carne and instantly the gnat flew away.
This is said to represent those who seek the pre-
sence of God and when He appears, they vanish.
In other words, 'there must be an~ihilation of
self, before there can be union with God.'
Cfhough that life is life eternal,
Yet at first i~ is annihilation.'
J:Iafjl', says: • Do not let your heart worry about
€xistence and non-existence, for the latter is the
~nd of every perfect thing.' The true way to
eternal life is through annihilation of self and all
phenomena. Reason is called upon to tread the
way of annihilation in order to get the larger life.
·0 Reason, to gain eternal liCe, live everlastingly
the way of death.' 3 So long as there is any sense
{)f individuality left, even prayer is not real.
When your essence is hee from all stain (of individuality),
"Then i~ is that your prayers are a joy.
61
There remUln!) then no distioc-tion,
Knower and known are one and the same. 1
All creeds, all law, are things of the past.
They had a temporary use, but are now no more.
Jalalu'd-Dfn compares them to water flowing
down a mill stream which provides Cor man's
needs, but when once these have been supplied
the water is turned off and the mill stops.' At
this stage it is useless to enunciate the dogma of
the unity even. The true light is gained not by
accepting a dogma, but by the annihilation of
self in the darkness of the night of non-existence.
The seeker after all his search, the traveller
after all his wearisome journey, passes behind the
veil and finds-nothing. Sad ending to so much
effort. 'Vmar Khayyam says:-
There was the door to which I found no key;
There was the veil through which I might not see:
Some little tack of :lIe and Thee
There was-and then no more of Thee and Me.
The circle is now complete. In the downward
descent law was obeyed and creeds were believed;
in the upward ascent 3 the hold on both was

~ (:)"!.J , ~.l.o '.> ",\io,\<, * ~ (:)"!I ~ l;It"" o.=-JO I ~I S; * ~ Il..oJlo jl .J.Jf ~4 d.i r.-
d5:;1 .J.Jf "'-'jW
1

2 ~I \.:.; ).>11 \iI J,I jI...s:.J * ~\iI )"'1 \iI....J-, "" a.:- f' ~~&4.- U)\<', u,;a--.J~ * ~
-'" w'....-..>
.• - "'.- )
",W
Gulshan-i-R4z. line 412_
Mall!navi, Book III, Talc xviii. Mathna.vi, Book I, Talc ii.
3
\.:.; ~ '.> 'JI ,.JI.J \iI "" fil Jk
This i. ~he \.all """l \ii-existence after annihilation.
..s, t
3 Pal-;;;er. quoting from a work by. 'Azlz ibnMu~ammad
Nafasf, gives this series of stagos of the upward a~cent: Mumin
DiID4n-i-Shams.i-Tabrizi, Ode iv. believer; IAbid, worshipper: Zahid, recluse; IArif, knower;
'62 l?UFiISM f;HJFiISM 1i3

loosened more and more, until at last the traveller The explanation seems to be that, having made
became the azad, or the free; the be-shara', or the ascent to the divine, he now descends again.
one without law; the majdhtib-i-mu~laq, or the not as a.t first, but in God, in order that he ma.y
,entirely devoted. So' his end is joined to his make disciples of others still in da.rkness and
beginning ',I and he re-enters the normal element error.· Thus, for the sake of example only he is
from which he originally sprung. This last state -obedient. Those whom he gains tben make the
is sometimes likened to a pair of compasses, the a.scent a.s he has done, and so all 9lif1s come at
impression made by which ends where it begins.' ,last to the stage when
At this stage there is often some confusion of Gracious iB He to those who return to Him.'
thought in Persian poetry, for the perfect devotee In one of his odes Shams-i-Tabrlzi describes the
is sometimes represented as obedient to law. jperfect $li.fi. A few lines are here given,·
The s90int is obediellt as to his essence, The man of God is drunken without wine,
He is a devotee in the street of eBsence, The man of God is a treasure in a ruin.
However his work is finished at the time The man of God is made wise by the Truth,
That hi. end is joined "gaill to his beginning. 3 The wan of God is not leamed frOID books.-
The man of God iK beyond infidelity Bnd religion,

Wal!, saint; -:<abl, prophet; Has''', apostle; Vlu'I-'Azm, one the 'journey from God along with God' Bnd is eonBcious tbat
who has a mission; ~atam, seal. Se. Oriental Mysticism, 'he is unity in plurality. The mystic circle iB now complete.
pp. 59-9,. . Note in Whinfield's Gu/shan-i-RtIZ, p. 35.
1 ,.~I j\! "''''r jlb4 • Gu/shan-i-lIdz, lineB 345-6.
• I)~ ~I,~ ",l:. 6JU Suratu Bani IBra'lI (xvi) 27.
• }S)", "''' J,I as ~)\$ ",1;1 * )\$;1. !'"
J..:.i\.. "',...... &)4
Gulshan-i-Rdz, line 365. 3 ..... \r )'" "''' ~ I...... "'r- * .....1".. ..s! "''' ....- I...... "'r-
~f )'" .J, .....us ;' ,&".u ~ I "'r- * "')l """;I ,-JI<> I...... "'r-
"lit!
"''' * ~ ~') jI .J, ~\; "''' .....1,.., \lo6. ~ I; I "'r- * ~""-=-1.#~,...,,,Ijl""""'r-
j4 "''''r jib\; as * ,.W4 V")',S " - ) ..,.., .J, .....\S) .J I<> ...., ,...... "'r- * ,.,u, ;' ;I,... ..,...:.$ ,...... "'r-
.
Ibid. Jines 345-6.
These obscure verses arc expla.ined by a. Persia.n commentator
.....101 , ~~ i I) I...... "'r- * ~'" v-+-"' ",y ............ I...... "'r-
Diwan-i-Sizams-i-Tabrizi, Ode viii. The translation of thiB
to mean that, though the man is ab.orbed in the truth, he :a.nd of several other quota.tions, is by R. A. Nicholson, whos~
is still obedient as to his essence, because by obedience he edition of the Diw.ln is an excellent one.
obtained his exaltation. ' Beginning' denotes the state of - Mere learning Irom books will not make a theologian. The
phenomenal existence and I end' the state of absorption is the knowledge 01 God comeB by 101'e k~o), the spiritual (acuity,
ab.olute. The saint firBt accompli.beB the journey to God wbic!>
-ends in fana, or absorption; then be abides in eternal life baqa intuition, illumination which is oppoBed to the intellectual
-or in God, an'd then journeys down again to his bcginn':ng i; faculty (Jk).

64
To the wan of God right l>ud wrong are alike.'
The man of God has ridden away fr"m Not·being,
The man of God is gloriously attended.
The man of God iB concealed, Shams·j·Din,
The man of God do thou seek and find,
The earlier Mu4ammadan mystics sought to im-
part life to a rigid and formal ritual, and thuugh
the seeds of pantheislll were planted in their sys-
tem from the first, they maintained that they
were orthodox. 'Our system of doctrine " said
al-J unaid, 'is firmly bound up with the dogmas.
of the Faith, the Qur'an, and the traditions.' In
manv there was •a .devout quietism, an earnest
desi;e for something deeper and more satisfying
to ardent souls than the formalism generally pre-
valent in Islam and a passionate love for God
for His own sake, not for the rewards or punish-
ments which He may bestow." There was a.
moral earnestness about these men which fre-
quently restrained the arm of unrighteous despot-
ism, and their sayings seem to show some ap-
preciation of the spiritual side of life. Thus,.
• as neither meat nor drink profit the deceased
body, so no warning avails to touch the heart full
of the love of the world.' 'The work of the holy
man doth not consist in this, that he eats grain
and clothes himself in ~Uf, or wool; but in the
• Tbsl;ltif! iB above law. All be does, good or bad, is in barmony
with the divine will.
• Browne, A Literary History of Persia, vol. i, p. 424.
~uFiISM 65
know~edge of God and in submission to His will!
'Hide thy good deeds as closely as thou wouIdst
hide- thy sins.' . 'He will never gain heaven,' who
considers himself pedect.'.:' He does not· advance
towards God who considers himself perfect. There
is no sickness worse than this.' 'All things' fear
him .who fears God, whilst he who fears aught
else but God is in' fear of all things.' 'Boast not
brother; whatsoever thou hast done, God knows
thy heart.' 'The- light of religion alone can quench
the fire of lust.' 'Wait content,. God knows what
is best:
AbU Sa'ld ibn Abi'l-Khair
- defines SMlism
. thus:
'Laying aside what thou hast in thy head
(i. e .prejudices, fancied and preconceived ideas),
giving away what thou hast· in thy hand_nd
not flinching from aught which may befall thee! 1
Now and again men are wa.rned that they will
reap as they sow, and in a very striking passage
Jala.lu'd-Dln Rumi describes how a.t the day of
judgement every thought which has passed through
the mind in this life will be embodied in a visi-
ble form, just as the ideas of the architect find
an outward expression in the completed building,
1 &ligio... By,le".. 01 1M World, p. 818.
For. other .worthy aayinga, Bee. Browne, A .Litera'1l Hid0'1l
of PerM; vol. i, pp. 425-6; and Niehols6n, A LiterllJ1l HWorv
of 1M Arab., p. 401.
5
06
'or' as a. tree in the development of the seed placed
in the ·ground.. 1
,.~In, the Wild days when· Muslim chiefs went
forth to . conqueror 'to die,. when dynasty' sue-
~eedea .dynasty in :bewildering rapidity, when
might was 'right and autocratic power ruled,
.86metimeswell oftener ill, . millions of the human
race, .the' $UIi poets acted. as' men of '. heroic
mould and gave to Sul*a.ns snd to Sha.hs, fear~
less. of all. consequence, sound' and .good advice.
.Tliuathe poet Jami ,to .&. ruler could' say:-
Thou art a shepherd, and thy Bock the peopie .
. To help and save,not· ra....ge :an'd destroy,
For which is for the other, flock or shepherd? .
jJ;ven' in such a book'. as the great poeJ,Ii of
Jala.lu'd-pln Rumi, in whic~ .$Uflism pure and
114np'I.~, with a.ll its disregard for the outward re-
!\tra.in~s :qf ~n objectiv.e revelation, is incuJcated,
~he.8..u~hornow and again·teachessound and Wise
". . 1 , . , . 1
P\'U1:<,l.1p es,.:.; '.,' :... : . . .....
t:T9. tt:*~t.in God, and. yet PJlt forth our utmost· skill,
)r~e .8:u~~t method i8~ ~o.rk His holy ,,!iIl,
" To d.oub~ the eX18tence of God is a thing which'never occnrs
. The .friend of,G~ mua't wp~k,
~ I' ~
_ .,." , '.
~uFfISM 67
Hear the adage,"The' worker is the friend of Gndl' '..
Trust. in Providence, 'but neglect not. to UBe meanB.'
Still, the effect of the system has been bad and
has worked for evil in IsIam. Pantheistic' in
creed and too often antinomian in practice, it
.possesses no regenerative. power. The divorce
.between: the religious and the worldly life has
,been . dIsastrous. $UIiism has discriminated be-
,twee~ those. who by renouncing ,the world pro-
,fess .to. know God,. a';1d those whom it' terms
t~e I~or~ntherd. 'When man's apparent indio
,V1duaht~ IS looked .upon· a.s a delusion of thf;l
perceptive. faculty, there seemS no room left for
.will or conscience. 'it. movement. a.nim~ted at it~
outset. by a high. and lofty purpose has degener.
ated IDto So frUitful source of ill. The stream
~ HI j~ JS'i 4 * olo.:.4 jl,4 .~ 0.=4
.
,-.AJ ~~ ........ )" JS'i jI * ,........ Alll ~ _l=:.l\)"')
Ma!!!-M"i, .Book I, Tale v•.
I • '. .
to the eU.fi 10 whom Gad is not. merely tho gr.aled but the
only Re~hty., In oth~r words, he regards God ao identical with
''';' ,

~~l':iE:,h~ says :- . :.: . ~ure Be'?8: :rhuo, from the philosophical point of view filufiiBm
, The Prophet cried with a loud voice, '0 panthe18t1c, After Bhowing that it IB not a materialiBtio _
Truet in God, yet tie the camel's leg. thel.." • which dlgnides with the name of .God the mem:::'
~na to~!ity ?! tbe universe'. Browne proceeds to ;m"w..tb4t it
.• ~'_l " •. '., ,; J ': • ._
IB a Bpllltnal18t1c pantheism which sees.lll the universe a retlec.
.. ,~.'.\lJ1i~.:>·
"':.j'" Jr \, )" •.. J'~.
..... ," *'"1 1"'-0">'
~ (:)....
L .., J\06- ,..,1
(:1t).J' "'. tlou of thoetemal .pirit of whom alone • reality and exiBto
\·~·"·'IS'.)'''·';' .. _.:~ ~. ;. -"~- :"",J' ..- L\.s.'
.. ," '-" .) oan be pr.adlcatod.. '. filtlflism. then iB an idealistio panthei.:,.e
..,.-,) (:)~ u=J ) J~:~. JJ';~ .. )",
To the filufl everything. SpeakB of God...· There iB nothing that
Ma!!!"a"i, Book V, Tale viii.
does not oe~e?r..to Hlo name' [Buratu Bani ~r"n (XVii) 46]
Br~$¥ne, .R.ltglO~Sy.tImI. 01. 1M World, p. 827. •

~uFiISM
which might have been a fertilizing river has
become a vast swamp; exhaling vapou~ charged
with disease and death.' Count Gobmeau says
that the ~Ufis in Persia encoura~e t?e .use of
opium in order to excite the ImagmatlOn of
their followers, and he considers that. they ~re
responsible, in a great measure, for Implantmg
habits of intoxication among the people. He
further adds: 'In any case one can say .bol~~i
that this vast association, .. bas been a~d IS ~tl . '
in the nature of its influence, very fatal m ~sl.atIC
'
coun t rles, All that it has produced are, 1qUletISII1,
use of opium, and abject drunkenness., .
, How it all deadens the seose of sm IS seen
in 'Uma.r Khayyam's verse:-
Xh"yyUn I why weep you that your· life is bad;
What boots it thus to mourn? Rather! be glad.
He that sins not caD make no claim to mercy;
Mercy was' made for sinners-be Dot sad.' •
In a collection of short fragmentary pieces
like the', Divan' of J:Iafi;o;, or in a longer ~oem
like the' Mathnavi' of Jahilu'd-Din Ruml the
'pearls of l?Ufiistic lore, to use an eastern meta-
1 Lea ReUgtom et lea Ph,loaol'hi~a dana L'.line Centrals, PP'
'169, 'i7o-l1.
I
f?UFiISM 69
phar, are loosely strung together, and it is only
very patient students who can find the esoteric
meaning of the, poet. There is, however, a small
poem less widely known, but which is unrivalled
as an exposition of I;ltif!ism. It is the' Sal9.man
and Absal' by the great poet Jami. The advan-
tage of the form of instruction he has adopted
in it is that the tale is continuous and is ex-
plained by the author himself.
J ami according to the usual custom of the poets,
commences by im invocation of the eternal Spirit.
Then confused and lost in the contemplation of
self and of that 'other than self' he prays:-
Do Thou my separate and derived .elf
Make one with thy Essentie.! I Leal'e me room.
On that Divan which leaves no room for twain;
Lest, like the simple Arab in the tale,
I grow perplext, oh God, 'twixt Me and Thee.
n I-this spirit that inspires me whenco ?
n Thou-then what this sensue.! impotence? 1
This gives the key-note to the whole story
which is an account of the way in which the
soul returns to Him who made it. The Arab
story'referred to is an amusing and excellent
illustration of the manner in which matters of
serious moment were lightly parodied.
, A simple Arab of the desert' came, to ' the
busy city of Baghdad.' The busy bustling crowd
, 1 The Eoglish translation of tho Saldmdn and.llbadl Is by
Fitzgerald and wi1l be {omid in Poem. ITO'!', tl~. PerM"
(Bernard Quaritch, 1879);"
70 !?UFfrSM
confused this child of the desert.. He longed for:
rest and sleep:-
But then, on waking
, • How,' quoth he, • amid BO many
,Waking know myself e.gain?'
So to make, the me.~ter certe.in,
Strunga gourd about hiB e.nkle,
And, uuto a corner creeping,
Baghdad e.nd himBelf and people
Soon were hlotted from hiB hrain.
,But one that heard him, and divined
RiB purpoBe, Blily crept he~in~;
From the Bleeper'B ankle Bhppmg,
Round hiB own the, pumpkin tied,
Then laid him down to Blecp heBide.
By and hy the Arab waking,
LookB directly for hiB Bigns!,
, SeeB it on another'B ankle,
CrieB a.loud, • oh good·for' nothing
RaBCs! to perplex me BO!
That by you I am bewildered,
Whether I be I or no I
If I-the pumpkin why on you?
If you-then where am I e.nd who?'
After this serious and this comic introductIOn
the story begins. A king, a successor of the
fa.mous Sikandar, had a wise counsellor. who
guided him in all matters of state-craft w1th so
much skill that the rule of the SMh extended
io the KOh-i-qM, the limits of the then known
world. Far and wide went the mand~te of the
8Mh and none dared to disobey h1S behest,
. but ~otwithstanding all this power and glory
f?UFfISM 71
the heart of the 8Mh was, sad. He had no
son and heir. He.ea.lled for his counsellor, knowD
as the Sage, and confided to him his intense
desire for a son; but the Sage points out that
all the advantages of a son, so eloquently de-
scribed by the SMh relate to a good son, but,
as ,bad sons are not unknown, his advice is that
the 8Mh should not trouble about it.
The 8Mh 'retains his desire and • with magio
mighty wisdom his own will colleagued, and
wrought his own accomplishment, when 10 I from
darkness cameo. child to light, a child formed in
no carnal mould.' His na.me was Salaman.1, As
he had no earthly mother, a young and. 'beau~
.tiful nurse, Absal by name, tended him with
loving care till he reached the age of fourteen~
As a lad he excelled in all manly exercises, wall
skilful with the lyre, melodious in song, and
played to perfection' the .chess S of 'social inter~
course.
. . Meanwhile .Absallooks with desire upon the
beauty of the lad whom she .had cared for arid
tended. At' length he falls a victim to her
blandishment. The SMh and the Sage are sorely
grieved. The father bids the boy ride, hunt,
1 A compound 01 Salamat, (peace) and Asman (heaven)" for·
he, brought ~he peace of pare.diac to his lather.,
S lIfete.phorB and simll.s drawn lrom the game ,01 ,choss are
constantly used by Persian poets. "

'l2
fight, do anything, except submit' to' be slain
by the arrow eye of a 'gazelle'. '
The Sage next tried to reason with' the lad.
But Salamari turned a deaf ear' to theentrea.ties
of both, and, being 'unable to meet the argu-
Plents of the Sage, he placed Absal on a flee\
camel, arid mounted by her 'side stole away:
Six days and nights they hurried on, till their
further,flight was arrestfld by a 'mighty sea.. , The
lovers .felt that safety was only to be secured on
the o,ther: side, and to attain this end they COn"
structeda 'skifIof scented wood and launched
upon', the' deep: ,At length, they reached an
island, rich in flowers and fruit, and in birds of
varied plumage and sweet of song. Salaman now.
found rest. All thought of journeying onward
passed away and both: gave themselves up" to full
enjoyment.
. All this time the SMh had mourned for the
flight of his son, He changed his • royal robe for
ashes, and his throne for dust'. All search for
the, fugitives failed.
, Salaman now stood alone in his individ~ality,
Then from his secret art the sage vizier,
A magic m'irror made-a mirror like
The bosom of all.Wise intelligence.
The Shah looked upon the mirror and saw in
the 'far distant isle his darling entranced by the
charms of, ,the, beautiful Absa!. Days passed ,by
and still the Shah
73
Beheld his soil 'now in the' woman lost,
And still the crown that ahould adorn his head,
A~d still the throne ~hat waited' for his: foot,
Both trampled undor by B base desire, ' '
Of which the 80ul "B8 .till unsatisfied.
." '·'1
The 'Shah lost all patience, he' brought 'all the
power of his will to bear on the young prodigal.:
Then Salaman, being, mesmerized, could see :but
could not ,reach his love. In agony and despair
he turned and saw his father's ll;rm ready to rescue
him from his fate. But the attractions of Abs&!
~ere stiif too strong. Again he leaves his home
sJ?d flees with the, partner of his faults and follies~
This time, it is not an earthly paradise, but to
the'solitude of desolation-a wilderness of death:
Sad and we~ry they construct a funeral pile,apply
a' light and leap into :the flame: '
But the Sage
, In secret all hBd order'd, and the flame
Directed by his self·fulfilling will,
Devouring her to Bshas, left untouched
SeJaman-all the baser metal burn'd,
And to itself the Buthentic gold returnod.
but that utter loneliness was maddening, his eyes
wept blood, his sighs rose up like smoke to heaven.
Then the Sage found him pensive and sad, and,
exercising his magic will, raised a phantom of
Absa.! which appeared for a while and then passed
into oblivion." The sight recalled Salaman to
himself an~ again the flame of love was kindled.

74 $uFirSM
The Sage saw this and described in glowing terms
the lovely Zuhra', (Venus), a very star of beauty,
to whom Absal and all such worldly creatures
were but as the glimmer of a taper. Salaman
listened . and, as he listened, Zuhra'in all·· her
glorious beauty stood beside him, and then for
ever blotted Absal's image from his breast. Thus
he left that which was earthly, and let it go for.
the eternal love, which he at last had found.
, Great where now the rejoicings in the Court of
the i:)Mh. Kings and Princes, Amlrs, and Nobles,
all from far and near obeyed the call of their sove~
reign lord the SMh, and came to do obeisance to
the son lost and found, the heir to the golden
crown and throne of gold.
This is a bare outline of the tale, after the
relation of which the poet proceeds to supply' the
key to unlock the cabinet of meaning '. It is this.
According to Jami's i~terpretation of the $tif{
cosmogony,
The incomparable Crcator, when this world
He did create, created first of all
The .First Intelligence-first ofa chain
Of ten Intelligences, of which the last
Sole agent is in this onr universe,
Acth'e Intelligence so called-the one
Distributor of evil and of good,
Of joy and sorrow. Himself apart from matter
In essence and in energy, He yet . .,
Hath fashioned all that is-material form
And spiritual, all from Him, by Him
Directed all, and in His bounty drown'd.
$UFfISM 75
Thereiore is' He that firman.issuing Sbllli· .
To whom' the world was subject.
A higher power supplies all that the SMh dis.,.
tributes to the universe. The higher power is the
!3age, the wisdom. Then of pure spirit, with no
taint of. matter, the soul of man was produced,
This is Salaman. The soul .for its outward garb'
requires a· body, t1).rough which' as a medillm it
may perceive and receive the joy and delight of
things of sense. This body is Absa!.
These 1 in' such a b9nd
United which God only can divide,
As lovers in this tale arc signified
The island in the deep i~. the 'world of being',
in which the soul remains apart from its Creator.
Salaman fell short of his desire, a.!?-d thjs show~
that in the external world of sense there is no
permanent joy, and that existence in the 'other'
leads to no real peace. Thus he. goes, back to his
father, the soul returns to its true parentage. .Still
it needs discipline, until all desire of separate ex~
istence is purged away. The process, even after
the fiery trial is slow, and so the Sage calls up ~
picture of the past, a phantom Absll.!" but follows
it up by a revelation to Salaman of one purer a.nd
better far than the companion qf. his existence in
the world of sense. . Then all mortal love, allde~
. ,
sire for phenomenal existence, passes away, and
he reigns one with the Last and First Intelligence.
1 That io, ooul and body.
76 l;lUFiISM
The point: of the allegory is that Sahl.m~n returns
not to the • Incomparable Creator,' but to that
which" He' created 'the Last and First Intelli-
gelice,' I It is certainly to this, and not to th~
Creator to which Jami makes· Sahl.man return;
The Muslim idea ofG'odis that of a pitiless
. fate-a God afar off. $Ufiism is' an attempt of
the human mind to bridge over, this gulf.. This
first Intelligence, or Primal Element, is represented
as a manifestation of God, a means by which
other created beings are formed. . The question
then arises,whether all allusions in the $ufi
poets to. the abs<?rption of the s~)Ul in, a. superior
Being' mean re~unionwith God, or with. some
manifestation of God. The Qur'an ,says plainly
enough' Unto Him shall ye return, all together."
Jimi might reply that • Him' here means God
a~ma~ifested in the First and Last Intelligence,
by which he, the Shah of the allegory,create~
the 'worlds and through which He executes HIS
decrees. " If Jli.mi's exposition of $Ufl doctrine is
correct, it makes even the most spiritual aspect
bf Is13.111 dark and dreary, for it shows us how men,
apparently longing for. a ,closer communion with
God fell short of the mark; how even to .them He
IS still •sterile' in' His inaccdssible height,' satis-
fiedto
.. '. .
let. them feel that they can never be more.
~ l-For, the" various names by which this First .Intelligence is
described, see p. 25.
, 8umtu Yunas (x} 4:
77
than slaves, that nearness to Him is impo~ible.
,They ,felt: the need of some intermediary, they
found it in a revival of the old gnostic notions of
the reons, forms of manifestation of the Ineffable
and Incomprehensible. The gnostic theory was
that God was immanent, .incomprehensible, and
the original source .of all perfection. • From this
incomprehensible essence of God an immediate
trausition to finite things is not conceivable. Self·
limitation is the first beginning of a communication
of life on' the part of God, the first passing of the
hidden Deity into manifestation, and from this
proceeds all further self-developing manifestation
of the divine essence. Now, from this primal .link
in the chain of life there are evolved, in the first
place, the manifold powers or attributes inherent
in the divine. essence,which, until that first, seU-
comprehension; were a.1l hidden in, the abyss of His
essence. These divine powers, evolving themselves
to self-subsistence, become thereupon the germs
and principles of all further developments of life.' I
All this, to which. the SOli would subscrioe, shows,
.how
- much
.SUflism owes to gnosticism. The true . ~
antidote for both is a faith in great historical faCts;
on which'the religious convictions of all men alike
can depend.
The !?ufi,. being a Muslim, was too ,proud ,to
search into the trnehistorical·facts of the Christian
I Neander, Church Hutof'l/, vol. li, p. 11., "
 78 ~njFfIsM 79

religion, or he would: then have found just what
would, have met his case and satisfied hiB soul;
God manifested, not in some intangible principle;
butin a living person,1 in One who' is the image
of. the invisible God, the first born of every crea.
ture.. For by Him were all things created that
are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all things were created
byHiin and for Him, and He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist." Those in whoin
His spirit dwells are His spiritual body. Thus,
do they .even now become joined to Him, as the
branches are in the 'vine. They are one in liCe;
one in purpose, but preserving now ilond evermore a
conscious existence,are prepared to enjoy through..
out time and eternity communion with one who
is very God of very God. To such a conception
the f?tifi never'. attained, for union with, God to
him seemed hopeless, and repudiating altogether,
or ignorant of the true meaning of the Incamation
of the Son of God, his only aspiration was to be-
come extinct in the Primal Intelligence, the goal
of all his efforts. .
~e failed to realize the highertrnth which In.
spIres the' Christia.n poet : - , ' ,
That each who seems a separate whole,
. .Should move his rounds, and fusing all
The skirts of self age.in, should fall
Remerging in the general Soul,
ls faith as vague as all unsweet :'
Eternal form shall still divide
7'he eternal soul fro~ all beside;
And I shall know him when we meet•. '
1 Tennyso~. 1,,' M;"'oriam, XLVII..

, I Chri.~ is' a spring'of Ilfe, for • a. the Father hath life ill
lIImself, even 80 gave He ~ the Bon. to have Jifein Himself'
(S':John v.!l6).The giver of life muot have Ilfe. The Sufi
l>obt 1aml recognized this trU,th by saying,' The n.tur~ that i'
no lile giver. how oan it be a giver of lile.' ' . ' .' ,
~ ..r-'" oJ" dt .ll't dt *
~ ..r-'" &.;!It II' .....1J
i :m also :exprEisses.f the, same
idea in figUrativs language:: I a
Fi lUi" ~inJ"",,:clod,~n 6lvello water",: .. :.
u1'oJ ....., """"" ~.lJ' oil\! ~ * .....,
j oJ" dt ~Jl' ~
• ColO88ian. i. 1~;17.',~ :"

APPENDIX
A Persian gentleman gives the following account
)f: the'djfferenc!l between the Musli!D philosophers
md the ~ufis. It is quoted in Rice's Ormadt1'so! the
Twentieth Oentury, pp. 484-5. .. .
'The true philosophers are those who adhere to
;he philosophic teaohing of the Greeks. Bat there
ye those who are not content with this mode of in·
quiry and have gone far beyond it. These are the
~uffs whose religious leaders (murshld) invent various
formulas (dhikr) to be repeated by their followers.
Besides t~ese mysterious formulas the novices are
instructed in the performance of ascetic practices in
order that by these two means their h~rts may: be
enlightened by visions of the unseen world, of proph-
ets, etc. They helieve in the existence of numer·
ons worlds, the world of. humanity ('alam-i-nasut) the in-
visible world ('ll.lam-i-malakut) which is the abode of
the angels, the highest heaven ('ll.lam.i-jabarut), the
world of divinity ('8.lam.i.lahlit) and the world of
essence ('ll.lam-i-dhat). There are according to them
many degrees of the knowledge of God and approach
to Him; the final stage being that of reality (1;Iaqiqat),
in which individuality is lost (fanl) and the soul be·
comes absorbed (wll.!lil, mutta1;lid, musta,ghraq) in the
deity. The main difference between the philosophers
and the ~Ufis in their search for truth is this, that
the former confine themselves to reason and argument
and have nothing to do with the ascetio practices of
APPIlINDIX
ii
the mystics. The beliefs and tenets of both are tbe
sa~e. Tbe philosophers, for example, prove the
~xl~te~ce of the a.bove-mentioned worlds hy reasoning
(Istldlal): the. I?Ufis say that they actually behold
them ~mushahldah) and speak disrespectfully of mere
reasonlDg as compared with sight. Thus the author
of the .. Mathusvl ", himself a I?Ufi, says, .. The foot of
the reasoners (i. e. the philosophers) will be wooden'
the ,,:ooden foot will be exceedingly fee ble." I Th~
follo~mg story is told of the I?Ufi, Abu Sa'id.i.Abti'l_
Kh~lr and the philosopher Abti 'Ali Sina. The Sufi
remarked, .. I am traversing the worlds" and' h
bega.n to describe them. The philosoph'er rejoine:
.. I .too was traversing them." To whioh the Stili
replied, ... Quite right; you were doing so. Bu"t I
was gOlD~ along ~uickly, while you were hobbling
along. behmd me With a stick" ' .
The Suof's
I prao t'loa IIy
conSider themselves as the religious guides of the age
and the successors of the prophets. All the philoso-
phers of the prosent day follow the teaching of MulIa
S&dra, whose system, an eclectic one, oalled the" exalted
philosophy (~ikmat.i.muta'ltliyah)", and expounded in
a .work named .. As far ", aims at reconciling Greek
philosophy, fju.fiislD, the Qur'ltn and the Traditions,'
1 .." (j'e41 J .....,;,.. (j'eI~ ..s4 * .." (j'el,~ (:)\olh:..\ ..s4
8. P. C. K. PRESS. VEPERY, MADRA.S 1910.